


The Expatriate

by LuigiEsguerra



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 16:43:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16496360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuigiEsguerra/pseuds/LuigiEsguerra
Summary: Luis Quezon lived the usual life of a diplomat's son; going abroad, travelling like there's no tomorrow, and all in the name of his country, but when the new posting came in and that they're supposed to be placed at a Consulate near Greendale, he will discover the secrets of the town, and the witches are the LEAST of everyone's problems. (FINISHED!)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to note that this fan-fiction began as something based entirely off the much darker comics with the present-day-but-retro setting of the show, this was the result of my excitement and anticipation for the TV/Netflix show, and as such the setting of this piece of work would be this hybrid of comics and Netflix. Secondly, forgive me for making too much references to the main character's country of origin, I cannot find a way to make a interesting POV character without making him feel like a real person, as what the old saying goes; write what you know. In order to keep the number of contradictions against the Netflix canon low, the focus of the fic would be on OCs in general and how they interact with the not-so-human Spellman family and how they react to the weirdness that surrounds the town, outside of Sabrina's close circle of friends of course.

Well, change is problematic to anyone, who else could say that things never change? I wish that my life had not changed but sadly I wasn’t that lucky with the draw.

My old man is a diplomat working for the Philippine Government while my old lady is a supportive mother and housewife, and I was finishing high school and after having taken and passed the UPCAT for U.P. Diliman, of all universities.

But then it happened, the call came through the telephone one day which I answered, it was from the office of the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and he was looking for my father. I called my old man and gave him the phone, he was jumping for joy for most of the ten minute long conversation.

With a proud declaration he announced, “I’m being appointed as Senior Diplomat to the United States!”

The first thing that came to my mind came out of my mouth, “But what about the fact that I passed the UPCAT?”

“I’m pretty sure that there would be good schools there that would accept you…” but then something must have struck his mind, “Wait, you’d have to take high school again because their education system is not compatible with ours.”

I sunk into frustrated thoughts, though this time I kept it in my mind, however I did ask, “So how about the two cars in the garage?”

“We’ll bring them with us.”

I smiled, at least we’ll be bringing the two with us, it’s called Diplomatic Perks and one of which would be the fact that logistics is all taken care of by the government with tax payers’ money.

The two cars that I was referring to were no modern cars, they were a result of the hobbies of my old man and myself, on one hand would be a restored 1965 fastback but with a twist; we installed the biggest period-correct Ford Engine that we can find.

The second car is even more ridiculous, a 1988 Mini Cooper S with retro interior and gauges, TWO Spoon tuned B18 Honda racing engines which resulted in the Mini becoming an All Wheel Drive monster (go look it up, twin engine AWD Minis exist) , and dual steering.

This is what happens if your old man likes cars and has a lot of money and technical know-how to achieve something without hiring someone else to do it for them.

But just because we can bring our projects does not mean that I am okay with going abroad, while I did spend most of my young life travelling abroad because of my old man’s postings, I thought he would be given a desk job in the DFA headquarters as planned, but plans have changed.

“Hang on, where are we staying then?” I asked.

He looked up in thought, “Well, my boss told me that I would be posted in the new consular office in the state of Massachusetts, hopefully we’ll find a town nearby where we can stay, somewhere nice and near to the office.”

The last time we were in the United States, my old man was posted in Washington D.C. and our home was in, get this, California, mainly because my mother wanted to stay in California and my father simply agreed; moral of the story, don’t argue with your wife or else…I guess.

I hope that this time we could be in the same state or at least along the same coastline.

The next and immediate chapter of these changes would be at the Philippine Senate Plenary Hall, where mother and I were among with dozens of reporters who witnessed the Commission on Appointments voting on my father’s appointment as a high ranking foreign officer, which I do believe is just one rank lower than Ambassador.

Although there was one question which even up until now I found quite disturbing and foreshadowing of our stay there:

Sen. Gagon (Independent): Mister Quezon, I would like to ask you as to your opinion about the fact that the place of your stay, the approximate area according to the list of options you submitted to the Commission given that there is no permanent official residence yet of the Consul in that State, is strongly associated with witchcraft? What is your answer to this, Mister Quezon, will this have any conflict with your faith as a Catholic?

Sen. Trillanes (Liberal): I’m sorry, Mister Senate President, but is this a practical question, WE ARE the Commission on Appointments after all.

(The Senate President, acting as Chairman of the Commission, simply nodded)

Senate President: You may answer the question.

Enrico Quezon: Well, Mister Senate President, I am a civil servant following the laws of the land, their land and ours, and a representative of the Filipino people, and as far as I know is that we do not burn and stone witches now do we? Anyhow, the United States has the First Amendment ensuring freedom of speech and religion in their Constitution, so therefore I shall abide by their laws.

Other than that, it was a rather boring and politically uneventful event, both sides - the opposition and government - were okay with him and eventually the Senate President’s gavel was struck and the Secretary declared ‘Mister Senate President, of the 24 present in this commission, none has voted against the nomination, as per Article VII, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution, we the Commission on Appointments has hereby appointed Enrico Quezon as the Consular office head of the new Philippine Consular Office located in Massachusetts.’ And then the gavel sealed our fates for good.

Once the papers were settled, once the formal appointment documents were signed, once the logistics were ready to ship things from the Philippines to California before being hauled cross-country to Massachusetts, where we found a nice place to stay in, a small town called Greendale which was located right next to another town called Riverdale, both towns were not far from the new Consular Office, the only thing missing was us.

My father spoke to someone he knew from the area who managed to find a property for sale in Greendale and he got us hooked up with the owner who wanted to sell the place, and my father bought it after the owner shared pictures of the place, anyway the costs were covered by the government.

We packed our things, bought the plane tickets, and had the entire summer to settle into Greendale, though admittedly we decided against roaming the town until we got everything settled.

To start with, the house needed some repairs and renovations which we did along with the help of some workers which we hired, and secondly we needed our means of transportation which meant we had to wait for the Mustang and the Mini to be shipped to the U.S, thankfully the two cars arrived in one piece and without a scratch on them.

As soon as we got the cars unloaded and placed in the garage, I got the keys of the Mustang and decided to have a drive around Greendale, mainly focusing on the other parts that we haven’t visited, mainly any place other than the local supermarket.

My father were not those protective types, he wanted me to go ahead and explore the place more, he wanted to come but sadly he had a conference call with the President of the Philippines as well as with other major heads of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I wished him luck, kissed my mother goodbye, and quickly got into the Mustang and drove off. The best way to describe our location within Greendale would be on the border with the gloomy and quiet forest that seemed alive and was of the stereotypical spooky haunted forest in horror films.

As I reversed on the driveway, I checked my options as to where I should go first, I could go left and into the town, into somewhat recognizable grounds, or I could go right and into the forest that have ever since called for my attention and my curiosity.

I took the forested path, imagine a loud jet black painted V8 pony-muscle car tearing through the spooky and dense forest like it was some rally car, that’s pretty much how my journey to the forest went.

Interestingly enough, I came upon the local cemetery, the Spellman Mortuary and it was straight out of a haunted house from horror films with its creaking wood and dilapidated paint, even though it was not creaking but the state of the woodwork made it look as if it was creaking.

I was stupid enough to stop in front of the Spellman Mortuary and gaze at it in awe, I was a sucker for spooky things and this one knocked on my interests harder than a train running through a brick wall. Everything seemed still, nothing moved, not the clouds and not even the wind.

But then suddenly the door creaked open, the heavy tinny sounds of the engine must have gotten the attention of whoever lived in the house. A young beautiful woman emerged, she had a bobcut blonde hair that showed a bit of strands of white in some parts.

“Hello?” she said.

“Hi…” I said, I decided to come up with a stupid reason for stopping, “I sort of saw your house and I was surprised…”

“You look new around here.” she said, “My name is Sabrina Spellman by the way.”

“My name is Luis Osmena Quezon.” I introduced myself, though for the record I am not affiliated with the old President Manuel L. Quezon nor am I related to the current President of the Philippines, Balroa Quezon, and even then Quezon 01 is not related to Quezon 02, I guess it just became a place full of Quezons.

“Ah yes, I heard about someone moving in here…”

“Aye, a family of a diplomat.” I said, “My father’s the consul for some nearby office, anyhow, nice meeting you-”

Two figures emerged from the doorway and flanked her, “Oh by the way these are my aunts, aunts Hilda and Zelda.” she said.

They obviously had this authoritarian air to them, though one of them was a little bit more slack and relaxed than the other, “Go, now.” said one of the two aunts, the one that was stiff and looked as if she had a broomstick up her ass.

“For the record, I do not have a broomstick up my ass, I suggest that you leave!” the strict aunt added in haste.

What, is she a mind reader or something? I was forced to concede, “Alright then, sorry for bothering you.”

I got into the Mustang, managed to do a hand-break turn, and gunned the engine until the Spellman Mortuary was far from my rear view mirror, I knew that I should have brought the Mini instead, what’s better than a V8 engine screaming into the forest? A Mini that can be legally qualified for Group B Rally racing screaming into the forest at three hundred kilometers per hour.

I went past my house and into Greendale proper where the streets were somewhat quiet in this late Saturday afternoon, I wanted to go to the local pub, the one and only pub, but I was not much of a drinking man nor was I a socialist - that being a man who could not survive without a social life and not what would think, it’s puns you see - but rather I was of the investigative type.

Lo and behold, I drove past the Greendale Gazette’s office and they had a huge sign on the front saying ‘Writers wanted, speak to our Editor-in-chief.’ I could resist that offer, I was accepted into U.P. Journalism and that was good enough credentials to get at least a post of contributor anywhere, though I’m not sure about the United States.

I stopped at the front, shut the engine, and entered the office of the Gazette where there was a burly looking middle aged man with a moustache who was talking to a young woman with a similar bobcut hair to that of Sabrina’s but this time it was of a dark color, “Oh, good afternoon…or how do you say it in your language?”

“Magandang hapon.” I said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Wait, how do you know me?”

“We’re the Greendale Gazette! One of our reporters here-” the man nodded at the girl, “found out about the arrival of a new diplomatic official to our town and she recognized you as part of the Consul’s family, right?”

“Right sir, my name is Gelyn Candava by the way.” said the young woman.

“Luis Osmena Quezon.” I said, I then perchance glanced at the framed front pages of the Gazette and one of them stood out, it had a large picture of a man with large glasses and face that anyone from my country could recognize.

The man noticed that I was staring at something and he turned around and chuckled, “Ah I knew you would notice that one.” he then walked to the frame and tapped at it, “One of the few important people to cross over to this quiet little town, and trust me I have gone through a lot of crap through the years.”

“Senator Ninoy Aquino.” the man gave an approving nod at the picture, “He was on his way to M.I.T to give a lecture against that old crook of your country when his car broke down and he had to stay in the nearby motel, I took that chance to interview him.”

“What did he talk about?” I asked, amused and amazed at the same time.

“Well, he did say one quote which I find memorable; ‘A pact with the devil is no pact at all’.” said Fitzgerald, “And there is also that other one, about how your people are worth dying for.”

“Wait, your are the Editor in chief of this place?” I asked.

“Why yes of course, I am Fitzgerald Bradley by the way, came from a family of journalists and truth finders, my dad investigated Watergate and I was just a rookie writer back then.” said Fitzgerald.

I was somewhat amazed, “Good on him then, I guess it’s a huge pair of shoes to fill in eh?” I said.

Fitzgerald nodded, “But I’m happy that I am contributing to my own home town in some ways.”

I nodded, “Well, I saw your sign out the front and I was wondering if I could be given that position of writer? I mean if it is still available, what do I need to do?”

Fitzgerald crossed his arms, “Well, do you have any background on writing?”

“I was the Editor-in-Chief of my school’s paper in my country and I was accepted into the University of the Philippines Journalism…but if you want me to prove myself, I’ll see what happens around town.” I said.

“How long have you been here?” he asked.

“About four months.”

“Well, I owe it to that man on the wall to give you this job to be honest…” said Fitzgerald, “I mean during my interview with him, the Senator, he told me to get as much good people from all ages to contribute to the paper, but of course I would want to see a sample story from you first, we need to test your writing and observational skills.”

For the past fifteen or so minutes of talking to these people, I have been taking mental notes of the man’s physical appearance, as well as that of the girl, and trust me when I say that some people would often call me Sherlock Holmes because of my keen eye.

“Well, you’ve had cinnamon buns and a cup of coffee a few moments ago, and you are obviously busy writing and signing things with your fountain pen.” I said.

Fitzgerald stopped, slack jawed, while Gelyn looked dumbfounded, “H-..how did you know that I had a cup of coffee, cinnamon buns, and that I was using my fountain pen?”

“Your right wrist has traces of black ink, your neck tie has a patch of brown coffee, and there are specks of cinnamon on the lower abdomen part of your polo shirt.” I pointed out.

Fitzgerald slowly extended an open hand to me which I shook, and then he said, “Who are you, Sherlock Holmes? You’re as good as accepted at this rate, but I will still need a piece of writing from you, look…um…are you enrolling at Baxter High or…what?”

I sighed, “I am supposed to be in College right now but the discrepancies between our education and the U.S. education system means that I am forced to repeat Grade 10, for better or for worse.”

Fitzgerald nodded, “Right, then we just want you to write a piece on how the students at Baxter High are viewing the upcoming Mayoral elections this coming November, you know, to hear the voices of the youth.”

I smiled, “Well, I accept the assignment, thank you, sir.”

“If you’re accepted, we’ll pay you for your job, anyhow would you like some of that coffee and cinnamon buns that you deduced?” said Fitzgerald.

I accepted the offer, “Yeah, sure thanks.”

“Gelyn, show him the kitchen and the other places of the Gazette, I am going back to my office.” said Fitzgerald.

And so I was left with that bespectacled girl named Gelyn, well we both had glasses and we both seem to be on our toes intellectually, “I see that one your bra’s hooks is broken.” I said softly to her.

She giggled, “Oh don’t mind that, let’s say that our laundry machine at my ‘home’ was broken for the past few days but was fixed only last night and the only thing left for me to wear was this old bra.” she then took her turn to do a Sherlock analysis on me, well rather on my car which could be seen through the window.

“You did not just attempt to go to the Spellman mortuary, did you?” said Gelyn in a genuine expression of concern.

I was surprised by her dire tone of voice, “Well, I did but by accident as you could say, I mean I wanted to explore the area more so I drove into the forest first and then back to the main town.”

“I would say that it was obvious because the wheels of your car are dusty, and the only way you could get them dusty at these dry weather would be when you’re driving really fast, away from the mortuary.” said Gelyn.

“Well, I did say hi to a Sabrina Spellman and her aunts, Hilda and Zelda.” I then added “They look like witches.” in jest.

Gelyn did not know how to react to that and I saw it on her face, she dismissed the subject and thought up of something else, like maybe the tour or the kitchen maybe, mmph? “Anyhow, you must be quite hungry and tired given your touring of the town, let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll get you coffee and cinnamon buns.”

The kitchen area was just enough for a shift of writers to sit down and have a good meal with their fellow colleagues, I sat down on a table while Gelyn made coffee and heated the cinnamon bun in the microwave.

One the loud ping of the microwave was heard, and the slurping noises of the coffee machine ceased, drink and food was served by the young woman, “So, what was it about the Spellmans that made you think that they’re witches?”

“Okay, it was just a joke.” I said with a smile before chomping on the bun and sipping on the coffee.

“But they are creepy to be honest.” said Gelyn, “I heard that Sabrina is turning sixteen this coming October 31.”

“Happy birthday to her then.” I said before sipping on the coffee again.

“So, would you mind telling more about yourself?” asked Gelyn.

“Well, I am a writer that’s for sure, my dad’s the Consul of some nearby Consulate, and quite frankly I have been given a bad hand with romantic relationships.” I said, yes I was quite frustrated with the usual heart strains of teen love, I got dumped by my near-girlfriend because she became a lesbian, and she did so during Prom night!

I told the heart wrenching story to Gelyn in the same old way I would when telling about bad things; in that factual and matter-of-fact manner as if I was reporting the news on TV.

“Ouch, huh, we have the same case then.” sighed Gelyn.

“Oh, so your boyfriend became gay is it?” I said.

“No, I’m a bisexual.” said Gelyn, “My parents practically disowned me, I’ve been living on my own since first year College.”

“Oh, so you’re a college graduate?” I asked.

Gelyn shook her head, “I dropped out of second year because I did not have the money…and my parents won’t send me a single cent at all.” she frowned, “I’m supposed to be fourth year college in Harvard by now.”

My eyes widened, “Harvard?”

“I was taking a double degree program, well it was sort of an agreement between me and the Deans of two colleges, I was studying Journalism and Computer Science…I was doing well but those bastards do not want to give me a scholarship even though my grades are really high.” said Gelyn.

I was somewhat saddened by her story, life could be very unfair sometimes, “I do not know what to say other than I am so sorry, where are you living?”

Gelyn pointed on the table, “This place, this place became my home.”

We heard the door open and I looked over, apparently a Greek God just stepped into the building. “Oh, hi Harvey.” said Gelyn.

“Where’s Mister Bradley? I’ve finished my rounds of delivering the special afternoon edition papers.” said Harvey.

“Wait, what is this? The Victorian era?” I joked.

Gelyn giggled, “Well, sometimes some news tend to break really suddenly and we have to publish the afternoon edition papers.”

Harvey turned around and glanced at the car, he then glanced at me, “Hi, is that your car?” he asked, his eyes growing in amazement.

“Why yes, I am the new guy around town, you may have seen me shopping once in a while for the past few months, whenever I walk past Baxter High.” I said.

“He’s the son of the new high ranking diplomatic official staying in town, he’s name is Luis Osmena Quezon.” said Gelyn.

“Thank you Gelyn but I could introduce myself.” I replied to her, “Anyhow, you must be?”

“Harvey Kinkle, by the way I love your car, something tells me you like cars a lot.”

I nodded, “Me and my old man, we buy and restore cars, that baby over there is a 1965 Ford Mustang fastback with the Boss 429 engine which we tuned to Spoon standards…in plain English, big American engine tuned by Japanese standards.”

Harvey nodded, “Well I sort of understand most of what you said.”

“Something tells me that you’re an American football player and that you stopped by Sabrina’s place, and also my place.” I said.

Harvey looked bewildered, “Say, how the hell did you know?”

“He’s really sharp, trust me.” said Gelyn to Harvey.

“Your jeans are dusty, same dust as those on my car, and we are located at the mouth of the town, we are the next stop to and fro the Spellman Mortuary so therefore you must have seen our house and stopped there…oh and my mother would be giving away those cookies which you have in a small plastic resealable bag in the pocket of your jacket.” I explained.

Harvey pulled the resealable bag out of the pocket of his jacket, “These are very good cookies.” he said as something else fell from his pocket.

“Say, what is your year in High School?” I asked.

“Incoming Senior year.” said Harvey.

“Same as me, I’ll be enrolling in Baxter High, and something tells me that you and Sabrina are close together.” I said, I then stood up from my chair and gave back the photo that fell from his pocket, it was one of those cutesy polaroid photos of Harvey and Sabrina.

“Well…I was planning to ask her…for her hand in marriage before or during college.” he said, somewhat embarrassed and love struck.

“What is this, the 1950s?” I lamented, “But I wish you two good luck nonetheless.”

“Well, if we have the money then why not?” said Harvey, “Say, since we’re all going to be classmates, do you have time to maybe have a drink in the bar?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, Harvey, but I am not the drinking type.” I said.

“Who says you’re going to drink? I just want to know more about you, and have a spin at that car, I mean even if you’re the one driving.” said Harvey.

I sipped the last drop of my coffee, “Let me guess, you want me to drive you to Spellman Mortuary to pick up Sabrina so you two can be driven to whatever place teens around here go for a date?”

Harvey was surprised, “Okay, how did you guess that?”

“Let’s see, you’re deeply in love with her and you have nothing else to do for the night…I mean the last part was an easy statistical guess.” I said.

Harvey looked down, “Well…I know, I’m sorry for asking, but it’s just that-…wait how did you hear of Sabrina Spellman?”

“She’s the closest neighbor we have heading towards the Consulate, of course I’ll go to her first, I met her, did some small talk, I do hope to get to know more about the others around here.” I said.

“So, is that a yes?” asked Harvey.

“You know, from where I came from, we have this expression of disbelief, ‘What are you, feeling lucky?’, whenever a person asks of another person an absurd proposal.” I began, “Well, are you feeling lucky? Because you should be, come on let’s get in the car.”

“Usually I would be able to use my truck but my dad’s using it now.” added Harvey.

I bade farewell to Gelyn and promised her that I would see her tomorrow or whenever I am available.

Harvey and I got in the car, “Nice interior, you and your dad are really good with cars.”

I smiled, “Thank you.” I said as I buckled up in the two point seat-belt, brought the car to gear, did a three-point-turn to have us face towards the gloomy forest, and then I gunned the engine which sent us into a burnout start, admittedly I tend to drive like Steve McQueen, of all people, when driving this Mustang, and, interestingly enough, like ‘The Italian Job’ when driving the Mini.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. UPCAT - for International readers, the University of the Philippines is basically the Ivy League school/ Oxford of the Philippines, the U.P. College Admissions Test is therefore as hard as you could imagine it since it is the entrance exam of the Philippine equivalent of Oxford.  
> 2\. Luis Quezon certainly does not have Sherlock Holmes-esque vision, but he is just sharper than usual, and a little car crazy...and is a little bit on the creative side with his recollection of events.  
> 3\. A Consulate is a branch of an Embassy that assists in renewing passports for expatriates, it is headed by a Consul, and is considerably a rank below Ambassador. In real life, the Consulate for the Republic of the Philippines serving the North-East of the United States would be located in New York, however in the story, there is another Consulate - for whatever reason - in Massachusetts.  
> 4\. For the International readers, Ninoy Aquino was a dissident and yes, he went into exile in the United States in Massachusetts, and he is a hero as far as the Philippines is concerned.  
> 5\. Greendale's location - as far as I am aware - was not directly stated to be in Massachusetts but it was hinted as such in the Netflix series, but in the comic it was directly stated to be in Massachusetts, aka Lovecraft Country.  
> 6\. For those who know about their cars; yes, twin engine Mini Coopers exists, though I took a bit of a leap of faith in making it a twin B18 Racing engines, B18 engine Mini Coopers exist but having two of them is highly speculative, and I did not have the ridiculous Fast and Furious tropes in mind while writing it.


	2. Deep Throat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Expatriate heads to town with his new found friends, maybe he found one too many, and there are more things than the creepiness of the town or of the Spellmans to worry about.

With a screeching halt of all four wheels, we came to a stop in front of the Spellman Mortuary, “You know, the loud engine of this things might wake up the dead.” I joked as we unbuckled.

We heard loud stamps behind the door and then a creak as the door was opened, “It’s that guy again.” sighed who I believe was Zelda.

“Oh cheer up Hilda, he seems to be friends with Harvey.” said the other of the two aunts, Hilda.

Sabrina emerged from the door, she flashed a huge and honest smile at the sight of Harvey, “Oh Harvey!” she exclaimed and ran up to the muscular man, they were then locked in a tight embrace as they kissed.

I was left to be mauled by my old memories of my girlfriend who became a lesbian, but as I was nearly gobbled up by the giant squid of depression, I noticed a dead body lying out in the open. Well, given that this was a Mortuary would mean that it would be having dead bodies obviously, but not this open and not this fresh.

My uncle is a homicide detective of the crappiest place in Manila, and I would often gore through his books on criminology and forensics, these bodies look fresh.

There were two bodies just lying there, these sad bunch were wearing suits and one of them had one of those personalized note-papers sticking out of the breast pocket. I walked over to the dead body, “And what do you think you’re doing, young man?” demanded Zelda.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I was just surprised to see a dead body here but then oh hell I realized that I was standing in a Mortuary.” I said with a smile, by chance, by dumb luck I would say, a coin fell out of my breastpocket as I yanked my folded handkerchief from it, I was about to sneeze you see.

“Oh, I think you dropped a coin.” said Hilda.

“I know, I know.” I said after the loud sneeze, I sniffed and placed the hanky into my pocket, and then I bent down and looked for the coin which apparently had fallen on the paper.

I grabbed the coin and took the paper as well, I placed the paper in my side pocket while I placed the coin back into the breast pocket.

“Alright, enough with that problem.” I said.

“Can we go to this restaurant, old Uncle Hilby’s, it’s near the Gazette.” said Harvey.

“Yeah sure, why not?” I said with a friendly smile.

“Say, you’re Luis, right?” asked Sabrina.

“Yes, it’s still me and that loud car.” I said.

“Alright, you teens have your day.” said Hilda, dismissing us with a flick of her wrist.

Sabrina stayed in the back seat while Harvey sat in the passengers seat like before and I was behind the wheel, though this time I drove more carefully because I want to know more about this town from these two, who admittedly have taken me into their confidence rather quickly.

“So, Sabrina, I heard you two were close sweethearts, eh?” I said with a bit of a smile.

“Oh, well…that’s what they say of us.” said Sabrina, “How about you?”

I explained to them my heartbreak and I did so in the same manner when I explained my story to Gelyn, Harvey patted me on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, there are others out there.”

“Yeah, hang in there.” added Sabrina.

“You know, you people are very friendly to a guy that you have just met.” I pointed out.

“Well, small town, we know everyone here, we’re very close around here you see.” said Harvey.

I decided not to discuss with them about the paper I found, I have not examined it closely yet but from what I know is that it is a personalized note paper like those used by people in very high places, those positions whose personally written notes and words are basically influence to policy with offices like Senators, diplomats, or mayors.

We eventually reached the place, it was one of those typical family owned restaurants that end up becoming the ‘best in town’ because of how long they’ve been staying there.

Harvey helped Sabrina out of the backseat, “You know, you guys go ahead, don’t forget to save me a seat, I just need to check something with my car…I think I hear a cylindrical misfire.”

Harvey looked amazed, “Are you sure? I did not hear anything.”

“You’re asking the owner of the car as to how it should sound like?” I said.

“Well, fine then, we’ll be waiting for you…do you want to eat anything? Your dinner is on us.” said Harvey.

“Yes, may I please get a double burger with fries with a chocolate milkshake? I’m sorry, I’ve been craving for that meal since I first tasted it when we first ate here.” I said.

Harvey smiled, “Sure, I mean you gave us a ride, we’ll give you food.”

They disappeared into the restaurant/diner, I pulled the paper out and inspected it, printed on the paper were the words ‘Hon. Mayor G. Smith, Greendale’. I did not know how to react but I had a lot of questions that stemmed from this one single piece of blank paper.

Who was that person, he who had the official paper of the Mayor no less, and why did he lay dead with the paper in his pocket? I slipped the paper back into my pocket, got out of the car and locked it.

A figure in the stood in the shadows, my keen eye picked out his fedora and suit as he stood in a patch of darkness between the lights from the diner and that of the nearest lamppost, and this man had been staring at my direction.

He approached me, “Reading between the fine print, I see you doing.” said the man, I could barely make out his face amidst the darkness but he had a short dark hair and looked in his mid-fifties, “An inquisitor now stands in our town.”

I felt insulted, “Now you-”

He raised a hand, “Insult you? I do not.”

This guy is sounding like that short green guy from some sci-fi film, “What is it that you want?”

“You are the new man, and you know how the saying goes, the right man in the wrong place at the right time is the best time to live in for the others.” said the man, “You may call me the Cunning Man…and only that.”

“Look, cut it with the Deep Throat persona, okay?” I said.

“Nixon was my boss and I thought it to be nice to bring down the bully.” said Cunning Man.

I was surprised, “There is no way that you are Deep Throat, I call BS on your claims.”

“I was one of the circles of Deep Throat, I was the King behind the knight that brought down the dragon.” said Cunning Man, “Anyhow, you’re reading the fine print, good work.”

“Remember always, young man, the truth shall set ye free…and it shall make ye fret.” said Cunning Man before disappearing into the shadows.

I think I now know of a story to write, but first I need an I.D. on those two dead people. I noticed that the Sheriff’s office was right across the street, I don’t want to interrupt the Spellmans but I need someone to I.D. them.

I walked to the Sheriff’s office where a deputy who was manning the front desk noticed me, “Hey, Sheriff, it’s that new kid…that one from the diplomat.”

The Sheriff, who at least looked fit for the job unlike that of the front desk pig, gave a courteous nod, “Good evening, sir, how may I help you, is everything fine with our guests?”

I nodded, “Yes, everything is fine except for one, is there anyone from within the Mayor’s office who has not reported to work for the past few days?” I asked.

The Sheriff’s eyes widened, “Why yes, the Mayor has been missing his two aides-”

“Their bodies…someone brought them to the Spellman Mortuary, sir, and I believe that they died a natural death, though I shall leave that for the coroner.” I said.

“What is your name, young man?” asked the Sheriff.

“Luis Osmena Quezon.” I said.

The Sheriff nodded, “Well, don’t mind me if I call you Sherlock Holmes once-in-a-while, how did you find the bodies?”

“I gave Harvey a ride to pick up Sabrina Spellman.” I said.

“Ah, those two lovebirds.” said the Sheriff, “Well, we need to get the bodies and run them through the proper proceedings…though they are somewhat old to say the least…” he then shook his head, “Poor men, must have been on his way back to the town when they breathed their last.” he then added, “I’ll go to the place myself, I know that Sabrina’s aunts are a bit stiff with the deputies.”

“Well sign them off in contempt.” I said as a joke.

The Sheriff laughed, “I wished.” he then whistled loudly and announced, “Alright boys, Sherlock here has found the two missing aides to the Mayor, he’s as good as one of us now, the bodies are at the Mortuary, someone has deposited the bodies there without going through us.”

The front desk deputy spoke, “Actually sir, there was a paper from the coroner…it just came this afternoon.”

The Sheriff slapped his forehead, “Why didn’t you say so?”

“I’m sorry sir, I-…uh…forgot to pass it on to you.” said the deputy, handing the Sheriff the paper.

The Sheriff glanced at it, “It’s the Coroner’s report on deaths of Thomas B. Hyde and Wilson Jackson, the two aides of the Mayor, cause of death was cardiac arrest, the bodies were found by the Coroner himself and did an autopsy on them at the Mortuary, declared them dead due to natural causes…signed just today.”

I had another barrage of questions, where did these two die precisely? Why did the Coroner break ranks and investigated it himself without the help of the police?

“So this is absolutely nothing to worry about?” I asked.

“Nothing at all, son, though you did good on telling us what you found.” the Sheriff patted me on my shoulder, “You did well, now unless there would be anything else, you could go back to what you were doing.”

“May I have a copy of the Coroner’s report? I work for the Gazette by the way and I am writing my first story…”

“Oh sure, no problem!” said the Sheriff, who got the paper and went to the back, and after the recognizable sounds of the photocopying machine were heard, the Sheriff came back to the front desk with another copy of the paper.

“Thank you.” I said.

I then ran out of the Sheriff’s office, past the diner where I saw a surprised looking Sabrina and Harvey staring at me, and then straight through the doors of the Gazette where I loudly declared, “Stop the press! Where’s Fitzgerald?”

Gelyn was staring at me in silence, “He’s in the bathroom taking a deuce.” she shook her head, “What did you find?”

“The Mayor had two aides missing, they’ve been found dead in the Sab-…Spellman Mortuary, apparently the Coroner had found their bodies and declared them to have died of natural causes.” I said, I then waved the photocopied report proudly, “Here is my proof.”

We heard a loud and dramatic toilet flush and then the sounds of tap water, after a few moments the Editor in Chief came out, “What’s all the ruckus? Oh it’s you.”

“The Mayor had two aides missing, they’ve been found dead in the Spellman Mortuary…I mean the Coroner found them dead somewhere else and brought them there, it’s says so here.” I showed the paper.

Fitzgerald took the paper gently and read through it, he then looked amazed, “You sir have the biggest scoop for tomorrow’s papers, I mean I am giving you the front page! I mean, well, joint-story of course given that it is your first story.”

I decided to recount to them what happened, though the only thing I did not tell them was Cunning Man, but other than that weird guy, I told them everything after I left the Gazette’s office.

Fitzgerald then turned to Gelyn, “Gelyn, I want this document to be on tomorrow’s paper.”

“Yes, sir.” said Gelyn.

“And as for you, start writing about what happened.” said Fitzgerald.

“I’ll send you the story by tonight via email.” I said.

Fitzgerald jotted down his email on a piece of paper, “There, send it to that email no later than midnight, THIS must be printed!”

I smiled, well so much for my first day of being socially active around Greendale, I mean I would now be a well known person even way before school starts as far as the people of my generation are concerned.

In fact, I decided to sit down on the kitchen table and began punching my story onto my smartphone, I did not stop, my phone sounded like a machine gun because of how fast I typed, I wrote two stories, one was a neutral report and the other was a personal recount by me in the Editorial section.

I even chose my Editorial writer name; ‘The Lone (Smoking Gun) man’, I was stuck between ‘The Smoking Gun’ and ‘The Lone Gunman’ or the ‘The Lone Ranger’, so I decided to blend the first two together to form my editorial name.

I smiled in glee as I sent the story to Fitzgerald, by then I heard the door open and saw a concerned looking Harvey and Sabrina standing there, “Dude, are you still going to eat?”

“How long have I been here?” I asked.

“Nearly thirty minutes, we were waiting for you, we’re not done yet actually, we had Mister Hilby reserve our seats.” said Sabrina.

“I am so sorry but my duty as a writer called me just now.” I said, “I found out about the two dead bodies at the front of your house.”

“Yeah…well…I did hear that they were important people but were kind of old so…things happen, bad things, mainly this thing called mortality.” said Sabrina.

“When did the bodies arrive?” I asked.

“Just today actually, they were brought in by the Coroner, he conducted his investigation and autopsy and concluded that they’ve died of natural causes.” said Sabrina.

I jotted down what she said word for word, “You won’t mind if I quote you on that, would you?” I asked.

“No, not at all.” said Sabrina.

I edited the shared document file to squeeze in her statement, once the edited version was saved, I shut off my phone, “I’m sorry, let’s go back to our dinner and have a nice chat while we’re at it.”

I balanced between stuffing my face with a big burger and a fistful of fries, and keeping an engaging conversation with these two, my options of topics that are definitely off the list were; cars, politics - local, world, and from where I came from, and what’s trending on social media. “So, Sabrina, I heard that your birthday is coming up.”

“Yeah, my sixteenth birthday.” said Sabrina with a bit of a worried smile, as to why she’s worried…well, I have no clue, she was as quiet as a mouse, I guessed that the only person she trust would be Harvey here and no one else outside of her family.

“Actually, Luis here might be our classmate.” said Harvey.

“Oh, that’s cool I guess, I mean you seem to be nice person in general, Luis.” said Sabrina with that goddamned bewitching smile of hers, “Anyhow, I was just curious…what’s your dad’s job?”

“Consul, he is in charge of a consular office of my country that is located approximately an hour’s drive away from here, but since the town that has the consular office is full, well the closest place we can find that is vacant would be Greendale.” I explained.

“So,uh, is it close to the job of an ambassador?” asked Harvey.

“Just one rank beneath an Ambassador actually.” I said.

I do not want to sound thuggish but if any idiot dared harm me, they will be extradited to my country and by god their punishment would be the snail-paced judicial system, the extradition agreement was signed between President Quezon of my country and President Sanders of the United States recently and I do believe that is now in force.

“That sounds cool, I guess.” said Harvey.

“It’s not that cool,” I said, “you keep on moving countries every four years, I mean I stay in one country for four years before being recalled back to my country for two years pending reassignment, and then my father would be reassigned to another country and that starts the cycle again.”

I then added, “But with you two as the first bunch of people I’ve met personally, I think my stay here would be a good one.”

Once we’ve finished our meals, Harvey told me as we left the diner, “Oh um, Luis, you can go from here on, I mean I wouldn’t mind walking Sabrina back to her home.”

Well, who can argue with that? I can go home, there’s nothing much to explore for now, while these two can have a great night as lovebirds, “Well, I’ll wave at you when you go past my house then.” I said with a grin, “Anyhow, thanks for treating me well, see you around.” I waved goodbye to them.

I got into my car, did another tire burnout as I reverse into the streets and came screaming down the road that led straight into the forest. I reached home in a matter of a few moments, parked the car in the garage and swiftly made my way to the kitchen where I found my parents busy with their own things; my father was leafing through official documents while my mother was up in arms against dust with the duster.

“Have you had dinner already?” my father asked, his eyes glued to the papers.

I nodded, “Yup, I had dinner with some new friends.”

“Yeah, I heard the engine pass by quite a few times.” my father chuckled, “I’m going to be busy for the next few months.”

I was curious with his work, I have my eyes set on becoming a Foreign Officer like him, “Busy doing what precisely?” I wondered.

“The United Nations General Assembly will be holding their meeting in September and I am to report to the Ambassador, apparently the Consuls of Massachusetts Consulate, the New York Consulate, and the Embassy at Washington D.C. are going to be in the Assembly, but as support staff to the Ambassador, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and the President.” my father explained, he often explains a lot when I ask him about things, most especially if the question was about his job.

He then added, “Oh and the President of the Philippines would be visiting the new Consulate after the U.N.G.A. sessions.”

“Well, I hope we could enroll by tomorrow.” I said.

“Oh sure, sure, Baxter High is the name of the school, right?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

I went upstairs to my room and I stuck my head out the window ten or so minutes later, and on cue I saw the two figures that was Sabrina and Harvey. I waved at them and they waved back, I even heard Sabrina and Harvey saying a hearty “Good night!” to me, to which I replied with the same hearty greeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.Okay, maybe I've been binge watching too much early seasons of the X-FIles.  
> 2\. The United Nations General Assembly is generally held around September and it usually has Heads of States or Heads of Governments as well as several high ranking diplomatic officials.


	3. Baxter High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Expatriate heads to school and forms his own circle of friends, after all the birds of the same feather flock together, right? Well it turns out his flock is a surprising one.

My enrolment in Baxter High went well, but school life doesn’t stop with just that. Come September, with my father being surrounded by big wigs in the United Nations Headquarters in New York, I drove the Mustang to Baxter High for my first day of school.

By then, our vehicles were given special diplomatic licence plates, and thus I stood out from the others right from the very beginning.

But before the first day of school however, I must note that I have been accepted into the Gazette as a full time writer, and that my name is as public as the phone books are, though Fitzgerald had not decided to give me any of the small stories, in fact he gave me full reign over the editorial section, mainly because apparently the copies with my opinion - on anything ranging from politics to entertainment - seemed to sell well compared to the other copies.

Anyhow, I walked to my classroom and I may have not been the first but whoever was there were speculating as to who their special classmate was, and that was obvious with the last few wisps of their murmurs. I also saw Harvey and Sabrina talking to each other at the corner of the room at the back.

The teacher was not there yet so I decided to take my seat, the people in the classroom were a mix of everything; the bullies, the nerds (or anybody who is just smart and likes the arts and the humanities) , the lovebirds, and the nobodies, and these classifications were all made by the bullies, most likely.

But somehow my presence seemed to have stopped the dynamics of their world, the tough looking bullies was dying to spit an insult at me but my diplomatic status seemed to have shut them up, the nerds - there were two of them - seem to look at me with great admiration, either because of their civics class or because of the fact that I look like them.

One of those two nerds stood up, “Hey, you must be that special new kid around here.” he said, he was as tall as me and was obviously someone who is concerned with keeping in shape, not exactly a ‘nerd’ per se but he was talking some facts concerning anime and manga with the fellow beside him.

I nodded, “My name is Luis Quezon, and don’t worry, I do not bite even though my father is a Consul.’

“My name is Rhon Rondey, and that man sitting beside me is Miguel Delfin, we read your astounding article on the Gazette three weeks ago.” said the man, he even brought out a copy of the said paper from his bag.

“Why, I thank you.” I said as I placed my bag beside their tables, much to their delight.

“We seem to think that you have some keen eye, and a very interesting way in analyzing things.” added Miguel, he was referring to my opinion pieces.

I must admit that I began writing questions as to the mysterious deaths of the mayor’s own aides that had gotten people thinking and talking about them, but in the end the official story prevailed that the two men died of complications resulting from previous health ailments, a claim that I find rubbish even up until now.

But the thing is that I could not have told my thoughts to anyone outside of simply asking questions through the paper that would have people asking questions.

“Why, I thank you two for your compliments.” I said.

“So, you are also a seeker of truths?” said Rhon.

“Yes, I want to find the truth in anything.” I said.

“Well, you came to the right company then,” declared Miguel, “we also write for the papers, but instead of the Gazette we write for the school papers.”

“Actually, we’ve been wanting to be acquainted with you ever since we read your opinion piece and your reporting.” said Rhon, he shook his head, “We’ve been looking for the truths in this town for years.”

Please don’t be conspiratorial nutcases, but at least be moderate conspiratorial nutcases, because I like those type of people somehow, “Oh really, like what?” I asked.

Miguel leaned towards me, “We cannot talk here now, we’ll talk later at our designated meeting spot.” he whispered, “You’ll meet our informant, our most important informant, he always meets with us every Monday afternoon.”

I quietly nodded and proceeded to take questions from my own personal standard operating procedures list, mainly the usual questions pertaining to their history, how the place is, how the weather is, how their families are, who are their siblings, and so on.

As the day went by, we began meeting our new teachers, most of them are nice, but it was the Civics teacher that seemed to stress on how everyone should be nice to me since I am not just a guest but an official diplomatic guest, or whatever that guy wanted to say.

It was the lunch period where the ball has gone rolling for these two apparent truth seekers, we did not have our lunch in the canteen rather they brought plenty of food from their homes and went to a concrete shed located at the back of the school.

The two remained silent as they opened the metal door which revealed a shed full of very interesting things, from a WiFi router to a tape recorder as well as a large board full of photos and newspaper clippings. It was obvious that these guys were conspiracy theorists, but at least these guys are not lazy conspiracy theorists.

“Welcome to GCHQ.” said Miguel with a smile.

“You named this shed after THE GCHQ in Britain?” I said, amused.

“Well, this is where we conduct our surveillance and our interviews.” said Rhon, “Come, do take a seat.”

The shed was illuminated by LED lights, giving it that feel of a laboratory in some place in Switzerland minus the cleanliness factor. I sat down on a metal chair while the other two sat across the metal table from me.

“So, gentlemen, what truth is is that you’re chasing after?” I asked as I eyed their messy looking boards which had maps, photos, and other things that were either connected by string or annotated by post-it notes, or both.

Miguel and Rhon looked toward their board, Miguel used a laser pinpoint to point at parts of the board as he explained, “You see, we live in Massachusetts, the land of Lovecraft and witches.”

Maybe the Senator was right when he asked a thing or two about the belief of witches by these people.

“We are currently running a grand investigation into the supposed existence of witches, fairies, and other beasts you may see in stories, and the cover up that the government is doing.” said Miguel.

“How long have you been doing this?” I asked.

“Ever since Grade 7,” said Rhon, “you see, we began hearing of crazy things happening in the woods around us.”

“Things like?” I asked.

“Cryptids, and they would most likely start with a dead body or a missing child found dead, either way there would be claw marks and unusual bite marks.” said Miguel.

“And the deaths of the two aides of the mayor may also be a piece of the puzzle of a much bigger picture.” said Rhon.

I knew that I found the best company yet, “Gentlemen, I believe that the two aides of the mayor were working for the mayor to break into the Spellman estate.”

Silence descended upon the room like hail, “Do you have proof, or are you just mocking us?” said Miguel seriously.

I showed him the note, “I found this on one of the two bodies, plus we know that the two aides were once the mayor’s election campaign manager and vice election campaign manager, in short, personal goons of a politician.”

Rhon looked at the paper closely, he held it up against the light and shook his head, “No, something is on this thing and we can’t see it.” he then turned to Miguel, “Migs, can you please hand me the ultraviolet light?”

“Ah, invisible ink!” I slapped my forehead, why the hell haven’t I thought of that!

Migs approached a drawer and pulled out a flashlight that emitted ultraviolet light, he ran the paper under the light, the letters stuck out like a sore thumb and it read ‘To the Vanguard Committee, the golden egg and the fleece are in, avoid the giant.’

Rhon looked puzzled, in fact we were all puzzled, “I was right.” I said, “But I must admit that my first guess was based on inconclusive evidence, but this one is just too good of an evidence.”

There were sharp knocks on the door, three of them actually. The metal door had a peephole which Miguel looked through, “Ah, she’s here.”

“Who’s here?” I said.

The door opened and revealed a familiar face, two of them actually, “Gelyn and…”

The tall man behind her held up a hand, “I know we’ve met before but I risk my life and your lives as well by coming here, but I did so because it is very important that we meet today.”

“Hi Luis!” Gelyn gave me a warm embrace.

Rhon pulled up a chair for Gelyn and Cunning Man, and quite frankly I won’t be surprised if Fitzgerald would show up next. “You three have become good detectives,” began the Cunning Man, who somehow with all the LED lights still managed to have a shadow cast upon his face with his wide brimmed fedora, he then glanced at me, “and you sir are a worthy addition to our force, welcome to the club.”

I nodded, “Thank you, sir.”

“Now, has our new recruit been brought up to speed?” asked Cunning Man.

“Not yet, sir, we were about to but you came in.” said Miguel.

“Alright, then at least we can have a general refresher before the crucial updates, remember, we did not meet, we did not feel, we did not hear nor say anything.” said Cunning Man, “Miguel, would you do the honors?”

Miguel nodded, he then stood up and approached the board, he jabbed his finger at the heart of it all; “This is Sabrina Spellman,” and indeed there was a picture of Sabrina wearing red autumn clothing, “we have reasons to believe that she, and the Spellman family, are witches, the type that worships the devil and summons demons, and that their coven are the causes of some disappearances and deaths here as well as some weird happenings around this place.”

What kind of X-Files crap is this? Anyhow, I’m enjoying it a lot! Miguel’s hand hovered over a quarter of the board, “These are the faces of the dead and missing, all of their deaths were written off as an accident while the missing were just simply found dead and had their deaths written off as an accident as well.”

He then shifted our attention to another quarter of the board, “These are all the mysterious sightings of unusual things around Greendale, from dead relatives coming back from the dead and found milling about looking like a zombie near the Spellman residence, to a group of three weird girls who are similarly dressed and are sometimes spotted causing chaos in some parts of town, and there are more of course.”

“But all of these were dismissed as tabloid stories.” said Rhon, he then shook his head, “Sadly these papers were all shut down because people thought they were trash and no one bought them.”

The Cunning Man raised a hand, “But now we have a possible lead.” he was wearing a black coat which he pulled a brown envelope from.

He dumped the contents onto the table, much to our shocked faces, “These papers are from the C.I.A and the F.B.I.” said the Cunning Man.

Indeed they were highly sensitive papers, three separate documents, each coming from the C.I.A, the F.B.I, and Army Intelligence respectively, each bearing the marks for each of their agency of origin.

“Project Stargate and MKOFTEN.” I nodded slowly.

“You’re a very smart boy.” said the Cunning Man.

“Though MKOFTEN came first, but anyhow both were clandestine units within the C.I.A to investigate the supernatural and the paranormal.” I said, “What is it that they know? How did you get these papers?”

The Cunning Man removed his fedora, “I worked for all these three agencies, as well as for the N.S.A.” he looked like a middle aged man with slightly curly black hair, “There has always been a clandestine joint task force working for the government, those guys sitting in the White House called Presidents are just chumps of the real power holders.”

“Which are?” asked Miguel, “What’s the name of this supposed task force?”

“They have no name, they have a very fluid organization, after all you won’t need them much unless something weird happens.” said Cunning Man, “But let us just call them the Government, because it is they who truly are, this powerful force of bureaucracy that can destroy anything and eliminate paper trails.”

He then continued his explanation, “They are like an organic being, like how white blood cells would converge on a threat and destroy the said threat, we do not know who their brain is but they seem to work efficiently, more so than providing good health care and food security and those actual government things.”

“Okay, but what is it that they know?” I asked, interrupting him.

“They are aware that Sabrina is turning sixteen this year, this coming Halloween.” said the Cunning Man, “These papers have been sent to certain agents and units within Massachusetts, they know something that we do not know.”

I leafed through the papers, “Intelligence orders?”

“Those papers are the typical Intelligence action orders, meaning they have sent their agents to come here and either keep an eye on something, protect something, or destroy something.” said Cunning Man.

“So what the hell are we supposed to do?” asked Rhon.

“There are no actions to be done yet, however I believe that we are slowly gravitating towards saving Sabrina from harm.” said Cunning Man.

“The government?” asked Gelyn.

“Yes, the government, but it’s not just Sabrina, we’re talking about the concept of magic in general…if these warmongers get their hands on any spells or on any magical creature, you can start imagining the invasion of North Korea but with demons and spells.”

I sort of did imagine the invasion of North Korea with demons and spells and simply smirked but I found it terrifying as well given that somehow UFOs will be in the mix.

“But why did you start with Sabrina?” I asked.

“She’s the youngest witch the Government knows of, as in these witches are immortal and they hardly breed, Sabrina is a godsend to the Government in the same way that the lab rat is a godsend to scientists. Look, if her dark paths would not torture her then I am sure that the Government will make her life a living hell.”

More hell than hell huh? “But can’t we tell her this?” I asked

“Are you mad? The witches are hiding, the last thing you need to tell them is that we know who they are.” said Cunning Man.

“Look, does the death of the aides somehow fit into this?” I asked.

The Cunning Man nodded, “But I have not proof yet.”

“We do.” said Rhon, “This paper, which Luis here found in one of the dead bodies, had a hidden note.”

They showed the hidden note to Cunning Man, “Interesting, you’re onto something here, fellas, it may be a very brazen attempt to throw the whole town into hell.”

I rubbed my chin, “We’ve got to ramp up intelligence gathering on Sabrina immediately.” I declared, “Her birthday is in less than a month, we’ve got to find out who the hell she is.”

“He’s right.” said the Cunning Man, “There are whispers of a massive coven meeting for some form of coming-of-age ceremony on Sabrina, the Government knows this and they will be there.”

“So then must we, if the Government is there…what would they want there?” said Rhon.

“So, we’re just going to stalk the two lovers around?” said Gelyn.

“No, we have tools to help us with that.” said Rhon.

“Oh and please hack into Sabrina and Harvey’s respective social media accounts.” said Miguel to Gelyn, “We know that you are our best hacker here, we need what they know.”

“Wait, she is the best hacker here? You mean you two are hackers as well?” I asked.

“Me, to be precise.” said Miguel, “Though Rhon here is trying to get into the hacking business as well.”

The thing is that whenever a problem arises, I find the urge to solve it efficiently and to do things right and cleanly, “Then from now on we start taking notes of everything.”

The Cunning Man nodded, “Right.” he said, he then checked his watch, “Your lunchtime is nearly over by the way, I think we should table this discussion and begin our surveillance activities.”

We left the shed in five minute intervals, just to make sure that we’re not seen together leaving that shed all at once, the first three to leave were those who have classes to attend, while the last two parted ways five or so minutes after I have left, or so I guessed.

As for the rest of the day, the three of us met after school, and somehow our brief conversation began with Miguel saying “We should go and drive past the Spellman Mortuary, and have a walk around the forest.”

Rhon glanced at Miguel with a slack jaw, “I’m sorry, you want us to walk into that forest?”

“Well, what else could we do?” asked Miguel.

We were standing outside the school, not far from the parking lot, I looked around our surroundings and I decided to keep my mouth shut upon seeing Sabrina in her red dress along with Harvey walking past by. “Oh, hey Luis!” she waved.

I waved back and said nothing, I then motioned for the other two to follow me while nodding my head at the Mustang. They seemed to be able to decode non-verbal signals very well, they both nodded and follow me to my car.

When we got into the car, I started it and began driving, “Alright, gentlemen, I know we’ve only met today but I would be honored to join you nutcases.”

“Nice car though.” said Miguel, I found out that he was a huge fan of the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) cars during our small talks.

“So you plan to drive around the forest on this thing?” asked Rhon with much skepticism.

“No muscle or pony car could drive through that thick forest, no, we’ll need to do this like we’ve stolen millions of dollars in gold from an armored car in Turin.” I smirked.

As we drove around, we saw Sabrina walking down the road that will lead her past my house and towards hers, “What do you mean by that?” asked Rhon.

“Dude, there is no way you could drive down that forest in a Mini Cooper.” said Miguel, who got the reference.

I shook my head and laughed, “Miguel, I would bet that you’d be begging to drive my Mini Cooper.”

“With a crappy suspension and underpowered engine?” said Miguel.

“Just wait.” I said.

I drove these two to my home, where apparently my mother had flown the U.S. flag and the Philippine flag outside our balcony for diplomatic and representative reasons which I could not go into this moment. I parked the Mustang inside of the garage and quickly had the door shut.

To the left of the Mustang would be the yellow Mini Cooper S, Miguel’s eyes were sharp enough to start drooling and declaring everything different he saw, “Is that a Spoon engine at the back!? Spoon gauges!”

“This is an all wheel drive Twini Mini Cooper S, powered by two Spoon Honda B18 engines - thus the moniker of Twini, coil spring suspension, run-flat tires, the headlamps were changed to modern powerful lights, it also has a battery of fog lights at the front.” I explained, “Oh and it has rear steering as well.”

“Damn.” said Rhon, “But wait, there are no seats at the back!”

“But we turned it into a bench seat rather than bucket seat chairs at the front, this thing can fit us three.” I said.

I unlocked the doors and opened the hood, “Wait, both of these engines are B18 turbos!?” exclaimed Miguel.

“Yes.” I said flatly like it was a normal thing to see.

“But how did you get this into the U.S? I mean I know that the government has strict rules on car importation.” said Miguel.

“Diplomatic perks.” I said.

Miguel got into the car and felt the seats, I decided to boast a thing or two about it, “Reupholstered seats.”

Miguel shook his head, “Dude, I’m sorry that I’ve ever doubted your Mini Cooper.”

“It’s alright, many more have and they paid the price.” I chuckled rather ominously.

“So, how do you plan to do this, guv’nor?” said Miguel in a parody of the British accent.

“Well, I was planning on taking this thing for a drive around the forest, Group B Rally style.” I said, yes I was probably car-crazy while showing off the fruits of the labor of my father and I.

Rhon was more saner than I thought, “Wait, you want to drive into the forest screaming? I mean there are people who disappeared into that forest and never came back!”

“We’re not like those people, those chumps walked there, as for us we conquered with a car that is so British that it would make Massachusetts a British colony again.” said Miguel confidently.

Rhon sighed, “Alright, but it’s only because we agreed that if we go down, we go down together.”

Wow, the camaraderie of these two are ridiculously strong to be honest. I started the engines of the Mini Cooper, while the Mustang had the noise of a muscle car, two Spoon engines sound like a jet engine; loud but not like the sound of metal rather the sound of something powerful with turbos and VTEC to boot.

The other two got into the car, I reversed the Mini into the driveway, got out and shut the garage door, and then I got in again which by then Miguel had found the auxiliary cable.

“You know, songs from Initial D is not the most fitting song for this car.” I said, somewhat in protest.

Miguel shrugged, “Sorry dude, my dad had an AE86 American import and sometimes when he lets me drive it I play these type of songs.”

“Had?”

Miguel sighed, “We sold it for a much more modern car.”

The Mini had an automatic transmission that was tuned for racing, because only an octopus could shift two engines manually. I shifted it into ‘Drive’ and we roared straight into the brooding forest.

Rhon and Miguel grabbed for the closest thing they could, that ‘thing’ being each other, as the acceleration of the small Mini shoved and buried us deeper into our seats, and then the VTEC kicked in.

Our top speed was something like a hundred and ten kilometers per hour, rocketing past the Spellman mortuary and forcing us to slow down to a more saner speed. I managed to do a sharp turn into a muddy path that was located not far from the Spellman Mortuary.

The forest up ahead became a ominous force to be reckoned with, it was late afternoon and the sun had begun to set, who would expect to see a Mini Cooper S in the forest of the witches?

A smile emerged on my face, it was like the old days when we roared past the forests of Bataan - yes, of the Bataan Death March fame, and Mt. Makiling - my country’s version of witch country to be honest.

Miguel stirred in his seat, “I see Sabrina!”

I shut off the engine, “No, don’t worry, she’s too far away to hear us.” said Rhon.

Miguel and I stared at him aghast, “You know if this thing hits 4500 revolutions per second she would be hearing loud vacuum cleaners!” I said, referring to the turbos.

“She’s heading deeper into the forest.” said Miguel.

I started the car again and shoved the transmission to L, meaning low gear, the Mini would sound noisy when revving in high gear but would sound normal if it were on low gear, not on VTEC, and if the turbos do not kick in.

We tailed the blonde haired Sabrina Spellman, we were parallel to each other with about half a mile between us, but she was visible through the trees with her scarlet red clothing.

I do not know why she hasn’t seen us yet, though to be honest she does look deeply concerned and conflicted, her eyes were staring at the path on her feet. We followed her for quite some time, though just before the last ray of sunlight disappeared, she reached a small open clearing in the forest.

“What the hell is this clearing?” I asked.

Miguel shrugged, “In my years of living on this Earth in this part of town, I have never been to this part of the forests before.”

Within this clearing was a, of all things, a bathtub, a bunch of candles, and a statue of…the devil…well it was centaur but with a goat head and horns. “Oh my god, she is a witch.” I said.

Miguel whipped out his phone, “This baby is better than some DSLR cameras, because if you have to photograph and video evidence, make sure that it would be good enough to be used in court.” he said as he began recording.

Sabrina stood by the bathtub, which was full of water by the way, and she began removing her clothes as if the forest was her bathroom. I don’t know if this technically counts as voyeur but technically this forest is under Federal jurisdiction, right? Anyhow, Miguel did not stop recording and his grin grew wider as Sabrina disrobed and got into the bathtub.

As the last glimmer of light died out, the candles surrounding the clearing in the shape of a pentagram lit up, and a red hue surrounded the statue of the devil and its eyes too began to glow red, I hope that was not some sort of the witchcraft equivalent of some super accurate point defense system.

So much for the first day of school, eh? “Please don’t tell me that we’re going to be spying on Sabrina here until she’s done bathing?” I said.

“Nope, because what we have is proof enough that she is a witch.” said Miguel as he stopped recording.

Suddenly, a dark figure approached us from the side and knocked on our window, I was stupid enough to lower the window. At first the man was unrecognizable until he bent down rather uncomfortably, “What a short car you have!” hissed the man.

“Cunning Man.” said Rhon with a sigh of relief.

“I knew that you three would be here to confirm what I said.” said the Cunning Man with a friendly smile, as in an honest and not like an evil grin merely pretending to be friendly, “That is what I want with my allies, I want them to be as sharp as I am.”

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Have you fired a gun before?” asked Cunning Man.

“Wait, you’re giving us a gun now?” asked Miguel.

“Just answer the question, who here can fire a gun?” asked Cunning Man.

I raised a hand, “I do, I received training from my uncle who was a National Agent of the National Bureau of Investigation.”

The Cunning Man reached into the pockets of his coat and pulled out the biggest revolver I have ever seen, “This is the Big Frame Revolver, the most powerful handgun in the world, it could blow a man - nay, a demon’s head - clean off.” said the Cunning Man as he gave the gun to me along with a box of bullets.

The Cunning Man then reached into his pockets again and pulled out a Walter PPK along with three spare cartridges and a box of ammunition, “James Bond’s gun.” I said.

“That Walter PPK is for more smaller problems.” said Cunning Man.

I placed the guns and ammunition on the shelves of the Mini, a retro interior does not have a proper glove compartment and instead it has a big shelf that runs across the width of the car just beneath the windshield and in the middle of it would be the gauges.

“Take care, you three, and be careful.” said the Cunning Man.

I rolled up the window and sighed, “Alright, I think it’s time we leave.” I said as we saw the Cunning Man walk away from us towards the direction of the forest, away from the clearing.

I switched on the engine and did a three-point-turn, and then I jammed my foot on the pedal, rocketing through the muddy path and turning awfully sharply after going past the Spellman Mortuary.

“I think I just felt my guts collapse.” said Miguel, clutching at his abdomen.

“Sorry for the fast acceleration and quick turn but that place was creeping me out!” I said, although that may not justify shoving my buddies under 1.5 to 2gs of force while doing all those acceleration and turns, “Anyhow, where do you two live?”

“You can drop us off at school and we’ll make our own way home.” said Rhon.

“Yeah.” nodded Miguel.

“Alright.” I replied.

I drove back to our school, which was now empty and dark, and shook hands with my new friends, “Goodnight, gentlemen!” I said as the two left the Mini Cooper with Rhon shutting the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Okay, I took some liberties as to what happened in the forest with Sabrina, mainly I was sort of imagining witchcraft from the likes of The Witch, and old paintings depicting witches from the medieval ages.  
> 2\. We see Luis' naivety with cars, while his dad's life long passion and hobby were cars and country, Luis' life is still relatively shorter than that of his dad - as in, he's younger, for one he's not entirely sure about how VTEC works outside of what one could read up on the Internet.  
> 3\. Okay, maybe I have been playing too much Delta Green but hear me out, if Witch Covens are to be kept a deep secret, it would for certain be a big juicy target for domestic intelligence, I mean if they hunt down hidden terrorist groups then what are the chances that witch covens are just swept away along with the terror groups as part of the war on terror? It will be a difficult life for covens indeed now that domestic intelligence is crucial in rooting out secret groups, terror or other secret groups like covens in general.


	4. War and Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Expatriate's duties as a writer calls him, especially that the Midterm Elections are just around the corner, he's going to discover the politics of Greendale and how unusual the current Mayor is.

Sabrina, Harvey, and the bunch of us became distant from one another in the following days, there was this silent thought hovering above our heads, this uncertain thoughts that buzzed at the surface of our psyches, and Rhon was the first one to blurt it out after the last subject of this god-given day called Friday.

“Can we trust that witch?” whispered Rhon in exasperation as we sat down in the benches, expecting the Baxter High football players - including Harvey Kinkle - to begin their training. We were there because we wanted to keep an eye on Sabrina - who was on the opposite side of the field, waiting for her sweetheart - and to a lesser extent, keep an eye on Harvey.

“Well, ten bucks that Harvey’s dead by November 1.” said Miguel, apparently he wanted to establish a betting ring!

I laughed, “Yeah, I sort of agree with you but I think that’s a bit too grim of a forecast.”

We heard a metal gate slam open, loud cadences then filled the open air, and then we all caught sight of a small group of young men marching across the field with a color contingent in front of them that carried two flags; the stars and stripes, and the company’s flag which was black and army green with two rifles forming an ‘X’ and the words ‘Greendale Rifles’.

“The Junior ROTC unit of Baxter High.” said Miguel.

I took up ROTC in my country, held the rank of Cadet Lieutenant Colonel and was placed second in command of my school’s ROTC unit. “These guys are somewhat small for an ROTC unit.” I said.

“There’s only a hundred of them.” said Rhon, that number was quite small compared to other ROTC units I’ve heard about.

The young men were professional looking, I can tell when a cadet is made of guts and not of complaints, I see no complacent cadets in the Greendale Rifles. All of them were dressed in plain green Army uniform, not of the combat fatigues type but rather that of the uniforms reserved for formal events or for drills.

A door behind us creaked open, we turned around and saw a cadet dressed in the same uniform as the others, “Ah, you must be Mister Quezon?” said the young man.

“And who am I speaking to then?” I asked.

“I am Cadet Lieutenant James Foxley, I am the Corps Commander’s adjutant, the Cadet Colonel wanted to give you a simple show of honors since you are - by extension - a diplomatic entity, or whatever she said.”

“Who is your Commander then?” I asked.

“Cadet Colonel Melanie Lagmay, she’s currently making her way here.” said James.

I nodded, “Well, that’s my honor then.” I said, accepting whatever the offer was.

The door opened again, revealing this tall and stout young dark-skinned young woman with her hair tied in a tight bun, she had that air of military discipline surrounding her.

“Lieutenant Foxley, fall in with your men.” she said sharply.

James snapped a salute and left, while the lioness approached me. She snapped a salute which I returned, “I am Cadet Colonel Melanie Lagmay, you must be the Diplomat’s son? I must say, you were a cadet before.”

I nodded, “Lieutenant Colonel Luis Quezon, Veritas ROTC Corps.” I said, her last name rung a bell, “By any chance, are you related to General Lagmay?” I remembered seeing that name on TV during an interview about the offensives in the war on terror.

Melanie smiled and nodded, “I am his proud daughter, my father commanded forces in Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and recently in Afghanistan, though now he was forced to take up administrative posts due to his age and health.”

“So, what are these honors that you would like to show me?” I said.

“A simple show of honors as I consider you as our guest of honor for today, you should have had experience in these things.” said Melanie.

I have, plenty of times my ROTC unit had to provide honor services to guests of honor in any of our ceremonies, “Yes, of course, I accept that honor. So, I do believe you would be accompanying me?”

Melanie nodded, “Right this way, sir.”

It was a rather textbook affair, as far as military drills and parades are concerned, the guest of honor (me) was accompanied by the Company Commander (Melanie) and both of us stood at the front. Since I was not an official diplomatic official, nor a military official, there was neither ruffles and flourishes nor the playing of the guest’s national anthem.

Instead the second-in-command ordered the cadets to present their M1 Garand rifles, after that the second-in-command told the cadets to return to ‘Attention’ and gave the command of the assembled troops to their main woman.

“Men of the Greendale Rifles, standing in front of you is our guest of honor, he is the son of the Consul of the Republic of the Philippines, and he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the ROTC unit of his own country. Three cheers for our guest of honor!”

The troops all chanted the ‘Hip Hip Hooray!’ loudly three times. The Company Commander then faced me and said, “Thank you for being here, sir.”

“Thank you for the honors.” I said.

Rules dictate that the next part would be a ceremonial inspection of the troops, which we both executed properly, just like the old days. After the inspection, Melanie and I shook hands and I retired to the front chairs where my friends were waiting for me…along with Sabrina.

“Wow, they interrupted the Football players just for you.” said Rhon, bemused, “I mean they have an upcoming game against Riverdale.”

“Power of the military.” said Miguel.

“Let these people be, at least they have sure plans in life.” I said, “Speaking from experience, these guys have more discipline than any of the school combined.”

My phone suddenly rang, the caller I.D. was that of Gelyn, “Hello, Gelyn?”

“Hi, Luis, the E.I.C says we are to collaborate on the special election edition of the paper.” said Gelyn, “Uh…there would be a debate between Mayor Gerard Smith and his opponent, Havelock Aquinas, at the town hall later this afternoon.”

“It’s a date then.” I laughed.

“Well…you could say that.” said Gelyn, “I’m walking past Baxter High, maybe we could go to the town hall together right now?”

“Yeah, sure.” I said, “Just wait for me there.”

I put my phone to sleep, “Well, gentlemen, duty calls, I have to write on the Mayoral debate tonight.”

“Alright, good luck, Luis.” said Rhon, as both Miguel and Sabrina waved and said their goodbyes.

I walked to the parking lot and to my car and found Gelyn standing not far from where the Mini Cooper was at, I waved my hand to get her attention, “Gelyn!”

Gelyn spotted me and made her way to me, she was wearing a pair of jeans, a black t shirt underneath her jean jacket, “Hi, Luis!” said Gelyn.

I smiled, “So, do we make our way there now or are we going to spend our time talking here, eh?”

“To save us five minutes of our time, well, what I would say must have crossed your mind.” said Gelyn, “Anyhow, is this your other car?”

I looked somewhat embarrassed, “Well, I did not know that we’d be assigned to the debate together…”

“Oh, relax, I think this car suits your practical attitude.” said Gelyn, “Come on, let’s go.”

We reached the town hall, a structure that looked British and was most likely where witches were once condemned to death or something. “So, do we get to interview the Mayor and his opponent before and/or after the debate?” I asked as I parked the Mini Cooper in front of the town hall.

“Well, the opponent of the mayor wanted to talk to us.” said Gelyn.

So, I guess our next edition would be a smash hit all of a sudden, I mean I have a feeling that this would be the beginning of a rivalry narrative, like all elections, but what of a town where witches are real and where it feels like it’s Halloween everyday?

“Well, did he say anything about what he wanted to talk about?” I asked.

Gelyn shook her head, “I do not know but I have a feeling it’s going to be a smear campaign against the mayor.”

As we walked up the stairs leading to the town hall, I asked Gelyn, “How long has that mayor been in charge?”

“For ten years now, he was once a nobody but he defeated the local political powerhouse of a family around here.” said Gelyn.

“Was he a good mayor?”

Gelyn chuckled, “He would be if he had done something about the mysterious disappearances for the past years.”

The town hall was bigger than any town hall I went to in my life both back in my home country and in other countries, but most of its floor space was dedicated to a multi-purpose hall that served as the town council’s meeting place and as a general meeting place for the citizens of Greendale.

From what I understand with regards to the Mayoralty system of Greendale is that it uses a strong-mayor system that is counterbalanced by the local court and the town council, the strong-mayor could write any ordinances that he would want but he would need a majority in the town council and the approval of the local court in order to be enforced.

“So, where is the guy?” I asked.

There was a man in a suit that was seated in a chair at the corner of the plenary hall, “Ah, there you are, Ms. Candava.” said the man, he was young compared to the mayor, about 26 or 28 I guessed, and he looked serious with whatever he believes in.

“Ah, Mr. Aquinas, this here is my assistant…”

Mr. Aquinas shook my hand, “Ah yes, the Luis Quezon, I read your editorials and I must say that if you were an American, you would make for a good mayor.”

“Thank you, Mr. Aquinas.”

“Come on, please, call me Havelock, and of course please do take a seat.” said Havelock.

I pulled up seats for myself and for Gelyn, we both sat down in front of Havelock, Gelyn asked the first question after the formal niceties were settled with, “So, Havelock, what is it that you want to communicate with us?”

“I need to go public with the Mayor, as someone who has been serving in the council for two terms, he is very incompetent when it comes to the disappearances around this town.” said Havelock.

“Can you describe some cases?” I asked.

Havelock nodded, “A young boy named Johnny Arnax recently disappeared into the woods and was never found again-” something held Havelock’s lips, something strong in his mind.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“T-…there was a cover up conducted by the Mayor to his ‘Fixers’, I mean a registered sex-offender was promptly picked up by a posse led by the Sheriff and beaten to death in the Sheriff’s office.” said Havelock.

“Johnny Arnax...I met him a year ago, the answer of the Sheriff seemed to fit perfectly.” said Gelyn as if she was guilty of being foolish enough in believing the B.S. given by the Mayor.

“What makes you think that this registered sex-offender was innocent?” I asked.

“That man was at Riverdale when the crime happened, camera footage from a diner, a gas station, and the convenience store he worked for, all confirmed his innocence when the child disappeared.” said Havelock, “And yet he was picked up from his home without a warrant, beaten to death at the station, and left for dead the Mortuary.”

“Something tells me that you have conducted your own investigation, what did you find?” I asked.

Havelock sat back, “Well, the young boy was found not far from the Spellman Mortuary, in fact even the two ‘Fixers’ were found there dead - I mean, you found them - and that’s another thing, why did the coroner broke with protocol this badly?”

“Right, he was supposed to call the police either way, right?” asked Gelyn.

“Right, and now that coroner has been fired and is said to have skipped town.” said Havelock, “Look, this coroner was a friend of the mayor and something tells me that there is some form of cover up.”

“But what do you think they’re doing?” asked Gelyn.

“The Mayor has had this long-running suspicion that the Spellmans are behind the disappearances, he sent his two thugs to conduct surveillance on the Mortuary, they may be middle aged but they were once Special Ops operatives who served in Panama.” said Havelock, “I think they wanted to break into the Mortuary.”

I nodded, “Well, those are very bold statements, do you have any evidence to back them up?”

Havelock glanced at the two podiums placed at the front, “We’ll get the evidence later.”

We heard the door creak open which was followed by a bunch of footsteps entering the hall, they were the early birds who was too eager to attend this debate.

“Excuse me, I have got to prepare.” said Havelock, he then stood up, gave us a pat on the shoulder, and disappeared into the other end of the hall through a door.

“Uh, that was weird.” said Gelyn.

“Gelyn? Luis? Wow, you two are early!” said a familiar voice, it was Fitzgerald.

“Oh, hi sir, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I am the moderator of the tonight’s debate!” he said with an air of pride, “I mean this is not my first but then this is the first time a staunch opposition showed up, just like the old days between Councilor Smith vs. Mayor Jonathan Walcrite.”

He then patted my back, “Well, see you around, oh and I’m expecting a question or two from you two during the open forum.”

“Sure, sure, good luck!” I said.

It was timely that my eyes drifted to the entrance again, because speaking of the devil, Sabrina and Harvey, along with my troop of friends, were there. I approached them, “Gentlemen, why are you here?” I said with a smile.

Miguel answered, “Don’t you remember from Civics class? We’re supposed to report on this event as a group?”

“Oh wait, I was semi-exempted from that because instead of reporting, I would write an editorial on your opinions.” I said.

Rhon, Harvey, and Sabrina all looked bored, “Well, at least it’s over with.” said Harvey.

“Yup.” agreed Rhon.

“You can take your seats, I would be with Gelyn for the night.” I said as I excused myself.

The next few minutes was spent in staring at the front stage and waiting for the debate to start, I took notice of whatever Fitzgerald was doing at the moderator’s table.

Our boss switched on his microphone just as the two candidates for the Mayoralty race stood at the wings of the stage, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Mayor Gerard Smith, and Councilor Havelock Aquinas.”

The two candidates assumed their spots at their respective podiums, the moderator continued, “Tonight’s debate structure is as follows; there would be four key questions for tonight concerning infrastructure, the economy, crime and law enforcement, and safety, there would also be an open forum where members of the public can ask questions.”

“Right, thank you for moderating this debate, Mister Bradley.” said Mayor Smith.

“Same here, thank you for your service, Mister Bradley.” said Mr. Aquinas.

The debate was, to be honest with you, somewhat boring in the first half, it was mostly Mayor Smith boasting about his past achievements and promising little for the future while Mr. Aquinas, who had lesser experience compared to his opponent, began criticizing the past failures of the Mayor and promised for something better, the rebuttal of the Mayor Smith would be ‘I bet you couldn’t do better.’

The main problem with infrastructure would be how the roadworks take somewhat a long time, the economics issue was about the sinking demand of local made things, the law enforcement issue was about the past disappearances under the Mayor’s watch, this was where things got heated.

“So, Mayor Smith, this question is for you; ‘What is your views on how the long running issue with the disappearances of children were handled under your administration?’” the Moderator read the question aloud.

“Well, I think that the law enforcement did their jobs well, they did it professionally, and I must commend them for how they handled each case well.” answered Mayor Smith.

Mr. Aquinas raised his hand, “I have a response.”

Fitzgerald nodded, “One minute for response.”

“Mister Mayor, how can you say that of your Sheriff when he and his men had beaten to death a sex-offender who was not guilty of the disappearance of Johnny Arnax, according to an F.B.I. Investigation?”

Mayor Smith mindlessly reached for his handkerchief and wiped his sweat, “Um…well…uh…”

“Um, well, uh,” mocked Mr. Aquinas, “is that all that you could say to the parents of Johnny, who are in the audience tonight? The real killer is out there and yet you placed the blame on someone who had paid his debt to society and was on his way to being clean. He was picked up without a warrant and beaten up, what do you say to that?”

Mayor Smith croaked and his right hand began shaking, it then balled into a fist and he launched his verbal assault with an accusing finger, “That Spellman over there is what you should be asking!”

Everything went silent only to be broken by the moderator, “Can you please expound on that, Mayor Smith?”

To be honest, Mayor Smith went into Hitler mode really quickly, “Her aunts, and maybe the young woman herself, should be asked about their timidness when it comes to answering the door when Federal Agents come knocking!”

“But the 5th Massachusetts Federal Circuit found not enough evidence to issue a search warrant.” said Mr. Aquinas coolly.

“As you know, my two aides were found dead in the Spellman Mortuary…er….and my coroner had resigned and left, I think that the Spellmans have blackmailed him into silence!”

Sabrina stood up, “Hey, you can’t accuse us of that!”

Harvey stood up to, “Do you have any proof?”

“I think you’re witches!” said Mayor Smith, “I think that the National Guard should be called into their house - NO, the U.S. Air Force should be called in for a precision airstrike, you know like those on CNN!”

The last shred of his respect went down in the sound of laughter and applause as well as mockeries of his last statement.

Mayor Smith, red faced, walked away from the podium and disappeared through a door and into what I would guess was his office, or maybe his crying room.

Mr. Aquinas took the chance to bow, much to a rousing applause from the audience and his first name was being cheered across the hall.

Fitzgerald exasperatedly announced, “The debate is now hereby officially over, thank you for coming.”

I joined in laughing at the mayor, he was a bad poker player to be honest, he blew his one and only chance to possibly turn a bad hand into a winning one but instead he threw his chances of winning the election straight into the garbage bin, much to the amusement of the audience.

Gelyn sighed, “Come on, let’s go Luis.”

It was already dark when we left the town hall, “So, Gelyn, would you want to eat somewhere?”

Gelyn blushed, “Well…look, Luis-”

“I swear, it’s on me.” I said.

“No..Luis…you don’t understand, I like someone else…I mean I have a girlfriend.” said Gelyn.

Oh, so she-…no, she was not taking this the wrong way, I’m sorry but I think Gelyn is the cutest and smartest girl that I’ve met, taking the spot of that crush-turned-lesbian, but then now history was on the verge of repeating itself all over again.

“Oh really, I thought you were alone?” I said.

“Oh, I mean I am alone from my family and friends but…” she looked down, “I’m secretly dating this girl in your class.”

“And you had a home run with her?” I asked.

Gelyn laughed and gave me a playful punch on the shoulder, “You know it’s kind of rude to ask that question…but hey, you seem to have journalism in your system, anyways…yes, we did it, like a few times already.”

I nodded, slightly disappointed, “I guess I’m gonna go home now.”

She held me by the shoulder, “Look, Luis, please don’t leave me like the others, I mean you’re my only friend outside of a romantic relationship…I don’t want to be alone, I mean you know how relationships work, right?”

“You become strangers if the relationship goes up in the air.” I said.

Gelyn nodded, “You are the only one that is as smart as me!”

“You’re the only one that is as smart as me, Watson.” I said.

“Yes, of course, Sherlock.” said Gelyn with a smile, “But, can we have a simple understanding here? It’s okay to be friendzoned.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, “Really, that term?”

“I mean you’re feeling friendzoned right now, right?”

She got me cornered this time, “Yes, I am feeling friendzoned.”

“Well, don’t be, I am not those type of girls who use their friends for whatever purposes, I value each and every single one.” said Gelyn.

Those who are shoved into the woodcutter, so to speak, are the ones that are the good type of friends to have around, I eased up a bit, “Yes, I can tell that, Gelyn.”

“Look, maybe one of these nights I would so want to hang out with you, but right now I’ve got a date with my girlfriend.” said Gelyn, she then kissed me on the cheek and the forehead - in that order - and added, “Good night, Luis, see you tomorrow!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I took a huge leap of faith in adding an ROTC unit in Baxter High, not all schools offer ROTC or any similar programs in their high schools.  
> 2\. Luis is used to military traditions and fanfare, his father is a diplomat and most of the time they would be attending welcoming ceremonies that have a military honor guard contingent greeting them. He is also an ROTC cadet in his country.


	5. The Night of Fire, The Night Of Witches.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's D-Day as far as Sabrina (and the government spies assigned to her) are concerned, but then there is a much deeper war in the shadows. Old friends and foes will meet, brothers will fight brothers, the witches will be dealt the hard hitting truth, the dark baptism is probably the most boring thing to happen that night.

The days and weeks leading up to that single and most infamous night in the history of Greendale, and second or third only to the likes of Pearl Harbor and 9/11, was a quiet and peaceful one much like how the prelude of storms would always play out.

I gained notoriety for being the class smart ass by acing every quiz and examination thrown at us thus far, it consolidated the respect of my friends and got the arrogant bullies to shut up, just what I wanted in order to have a much better chances of surviving whatever might show up on October 31.

But even though I did not have problems, that does not mean that no other large chunk of the school population had problems, I am talking about the female students and the minorities. One of Sabrina’s friends, Susie, who was notably a tomboy was assaulted and humiliated by four football players, so Sabrina and her friends started a club called WICCA, which I had to write about.

Interestingly enough I ended up publishing an op-ed that I somewhat regretted when I realized that it was being distributed right after the last paper had been delivered to the last customer, ‘Sabrina Spellman for an Iska’ was the title with ‘Iska’ referring to the students of U.P. Diliman who were well known for social activism, which I think Sabrina basically did in starting the WICCA club that was basically women protecting women. At least Sabrina came to me the very next day and thanked me for my opinion on her and for increasing awareness of their club.

We had no further meetings with Cunning Man, instead we communicated through dead drops, and so far he has been sending dire warnings to us bunch, apparently the Government - whoever within the big government - had tracked up to a hundred and fifty six confirmed witches making their way here in their own ways.

Look, I have no idea who the hell these guys are but I would not be surprised if they’re part of the military, the F.B.I, or the C.I.A, or all of the above, but I have some very grave questions as to who, how, what, and why they’re even keeping track of purported witches.

It makes you think, a lone terrorist slips through the FBI and ends up gunning down a bunch of innocent people, but somehow the combined might of the United States is being used to track a bunch of hags.

There was no plan, that is the most terrifying thing about our situation, we have no plan, nothing from Cunning Man and nothing from the others, our meetings have been pointless because of the fact that we’re only an army of five, counting the Cunning Man.

We were invited to the Halloween - slash - Sweet Sixteen birthday of Sabrina Spellman, it was planned by her friends, we could not decline because while we are afraid of our own safety, we’re also afraid for our friend, at least for our classmate who was not a jackass to us, even if she was a witch, and for someone who showed more guts than any man I’ve ever met.

But just because we agreed does not mean we were able to throw away our reservations, we still had doubts, some of us wondered if we’re going to come out of this one alive, but I acted as if everything was normal, I mean if my own father charged into 2003 Iraq in order to secure the trapped Filipino expatriates there, then this brush with witchcraft is nothing to a Quezon, nothing to me.

After our classes that day, we returned home to switch to our own clothes of choice for the party and promptly convened at our shed for one last meeting before the party itself. “Gentlemen,” Gelyn was the first one to speak up, “I would like to take this time to tell you that I have been treating you like my younger brothers, in that I am concerned for each and every single on of you.” she said nervously.

Rhon sighed, “This may be our end, I mean we’re close to this devil worshipers.”

“Heh, we befriended one!” said Miguel sarcastically.

I glanced at the cork board, so far we have been tracking each unusual piece of occult or occultish news across the United States through online and paper tabloids. I stood up and approached the board, we had set up a map of the United States and placed a red pin for every confirmed unusual murder, a blue pin for every unusual sighting that is non UFO related, and any unusual supernatural cases such as possessions, exorcisms gone wrong, haunted houses, and such.

We also received great help from Cunning Man, who had been feeding us information on these unusual events. We were seeing blues across the board with patches of red mostly on the seaboards of the United States as well as the Southern States.

“Huh, if the election would go this way, it would have been ground breaking.” I joked, get it? Blue and Red?

Miguel stirred in his seat, “What do we need to do precisely?” he asked.

“The Cunning Man told us to be at the party and act as his eyes, and also to protect Sabrina from-…human problematics.” said Gelyn.

We glanced at her, we knew nothing until now, “He told you to tell us that only tonight?” snapped Rhon.

Gelyn shook her head, “No, look, I know that this may sound weird, but I have received a encrypted text message just before we met here, the Cunning Man does not use text messages unless if it’s that bad.” she placed a black smartphone on the table, the likes of which we have not seen before ever, I have not seen her use it before.

“Wait, isn’t that an Intelligence phone?” said Miguel, “No apps, no internet, and no SIM Card, but it has a special satellite receiver and transmitter that uses the CIA satellites to get messages to agents across the world.”

“I found this in my drawer today after I came back from lunch, you know that I live in my own office, right?” said Gelyn.

I took the phone and inspected it with a grin, “This is some serious piece of hardware.”

“Look, uh guys…I don’t mean to be paranoid but what if we’re going against the CIA on this one?” said Rhon.

He was not paranoid, he’s right, I sighed while Miguel snapped, “What kind of government agency goes against one single witch? I guess that these are only a bunch of rogue agents and we’re going to use that phone to contact Cunning Man and tell him to get his buddies to flush out the bogeys. I mean, go ask Saudi Arabia, they supposedly had problems with rogue agents and now no one knows what to do after that incident, maybe Cunning Man is leaving nothing to chance with rogue agents.”

I held up a hand, “Gentlemen, the thing about espionage is that if this was a Pentagon versus the Pentagram, then we’re both looking at a very secretive group who each have their own sets of values and are both willing to kill for their values, now the question is simply who?”

“Are you saying that a bunch of governmental men in black agents would be knocking on her door and either shooting Sabrina on the head or arresting her?” said Rhon.

“Yes, maybe, it’s just a hunch.” I said, even I writhed at my own imaginations, I mean I won’t be surprised if tonight would go down in history as ‘The Night the United States arrested the devil and shoved him into Guantanamo Bay.’

Gelyn held out her hands, “Guys, calm down, we can and will get through this.” she said.

I had my doubts but I think we will pull through this, maybe not in one piece but at least alive, I hope. “So, it’s better to light a flamethrower at the dark rather than to bitch about it, let’s come up with a plan!” I pounded the table, “First, the party will be at Harvey’s house, we go there, greet the birthday girl, and then we split.”

I saw the despair disappearing from their faces, to be honest I’m just pretending to have a plan, I mean I watched a lot of espionage movies and read some serious strategy and tactical novels written by ex-CIA and MI6 agents. “From there on, we’ll be using our radio earpieces that I believe Miguel has.”

Miguel, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we invested on those semi-professional radio earpieces two years ago.”

“Are they still working?” I asked.

“Yes.” said Miguel.

“I want a sentinel outside on the front, outside at the back, one upstairs - if Mister Kinkle would allow for the guests to go there - and one keeping an eye at Sabrina at all times.” I said, “Our codeword is ‘Purge’ if there is a confirmed suspicious person within our sight.”

“But what if Sabrina and Harvey…er…” said Rhon.

I rolled my eyes, “Look, if they’d be doing, ahem ‘it’, then just make sure that there’s no laser sights pointing at her through the windows.” See, I told you I don’t have a solid plan.

“But what if they would change location? Say if Harvey brings back Sabrina to her house early?” asked Miguel.

“Then we’ll get in the Mustang and follow her.” I answered.

Rhon shrugged, “Well, that sounds like a plan, thank God that we have you.” he said.

I nodded with a bit of pride, “Well, if you want to get stuff done, then you get stuff done properly.”

“But who’s staying where?” asked Gelyn.

“There will be no fixed roster, we would be moving to different places every fifteen minutes, we’ll coordinate through radio.” I said, “The last thing we need is for the enemy to have a sure lock on our pattern.” I then added, “Any other questions?”

They all shook their heads, “Good, let’s go.” I said.

We wore our headsets and checked if they were working properly, I also checked my Walter PPK which was hidden underneath my suit, I decided to dress up in a double breasted midnight blue suit. Once everything was in check, we silently nodded and walked outside.

We got into my Mustang and promptly made our way to the Kinkle residence, where we parked right in front of the house. It was 6:45pm and there were already guests present.

We got out of the car and went up to the door, we knocked and one of Harvey’s friends answered the door, “Ah, it’s you guys!”

“Where’s Harvey and Sabrina?” I asked.

“Harvey picked Sabrina up from her house.” said Harvey’s friend, “Come on in, he said that you were invited.”

We nodded to each other as we went in, the party had not started yet and it was still a mere social gathering, there was no loud music yet and the early guests were just chatting with each other.

I split from them and began speaking into the microphone hidden in my sleeve, “First watch; Rhon - front, Migs - back, Gelyn and I - downstairs, wait for Sabrina to arrive.” There were no guests upstairs so I did not have to get a person up there yet.

I stationed myself by the front window, there was a row of normal looking houses across the street and nothing seems to be out of place, guests were being welcomed in by Harvey’s friends while we wait for the man himself and most especially the Sweet Sixteen birthday celebrant.

Harvey’s pickup pulled up in front of the house under our third watch - or forty five minutes after we arrived, I was standing outside, I radioed the others about their presence as I waved at Sabrina and Harvey.

“Hey, Sabrina, happy birthday!” I greeted her.

We shared a quick embrace, “Thank you, Luis!”

“So, what are you doing out here standing like a bouncer?” said Harvey with a grin.

“Eh, just bored inside, wanted to feel the fresh air.” I said, “Oh and we’re waiting for the birthday girl!”

As Sabrina and Harvey entered the house, I spotted someone standing underneath the shade of a tree across the street. “Potential Purge.” I said into the radio, “Everyone stay where Sabrina is, I’ll check this Purge out.”

“Dude, are you serious-”

“Gelyn, just trust me.” I hissed as I crossed the street and had a hand ready for my gun.

The dark figure held out a hand, “It’s me, Cunning Man, I’m impressed with your get up.”

The Cunning Man was wearing a pair of earphones which were connected directly to a small dish-shaped device that he was holding towards the house, he continued, “I was listening in on your radio conversation and even I cannot deduce your guarding plan.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “Okay, this night of hell, what’s up with it?” I asked.

The Cunning Man waved me over to come closer, which I did, “The government is not our friend tonight.”

My heart sank as deep as it could, “Sorry? I thought you’re government!”

“Well the government is so big that there could be two of them.” hissed Cunning Man in exasperation, “Look, expect some bat-crap insane, Bin Laden-level-special ops mission tonight. No, expect a shadow war tonight on the poor girl’s birthday.”

“You and what army, us?” I said rather harshly.

Another man emerged from the shadows, “Why, my dear chap, we have a van load of them!”

“Who is he?" I asked

Cunning Man patted the man's shoulder, “This man is part of a much bigger Cell operating within Greendale, he’s our go-to guy for magic, he's Professor Donnell, researcher in Miskatonic University."

“Actually, what you call magic is simply string theory and M-Theory as well as inter-dimensional physical theories .” said Donnell.

“What do you mean a van load of them?” I asked.

“Just you wait, most especially when things go really, really awry.” said Cunning Man, “Now, I suggest that you do not blow your cover, go back in there and pretend that you didn’t see us.”

I went back to Harvey’s house while radioing to my team, “CM, no Purge.” and I heard sighs of relief after that.

We stayed at the party acting like normal people, which was horrifically difficult given that we were introverts and that the only thing we could talk about were the nerdy things we like. We made damn sure that Sabrina never left our sights, though once in a while we would mindlessly glance out the window and check if there’s anything lurking in the shadows.

Barely a quarter past nine O’clock, Sabrina raised her voice and announced, “Look, guys, thank you so much for this birthday party but I have to go back…er…it’s my family’s turn to celebrate my birthday.”

As their circle of friends gave their approving nod, with some waving a hearty farewell to the birthday girl, I radioed, “CM, you can hear us, Red Flag is on the march, to the others, we’re in chase mode.”

The Cunning Man heard my transmission, I saw heavily tinted cars of differing dark colors moving out and, presumably, began following Harvey’s pickup truck from a distance.

Even we began moving out as soon as we could get into the Mustang and onto the road, the Cunning Man’s helpers were smart enough not to keep on trailing Harvey’s truck, some of them camouflaged into the normal scene easily, I do not know if a random person wearing civilian clothing leaving his car at a paring lot was an agent of the Cunning Man, but it felt like some of them were because they were walking towards the direction of Sabrina’s house.

By the time Harvey went past my house, we were the only one following them, that is until we saw two men hidden in the shadows and were standing outside my own house. I parked the Mustang on my driveway and approached these two, “Cunning Man, Donnell?”

Cunning Man nodded, “We have a command van parked not far from here, it’s best if you do not use your own personal cars from now on.” he nodded in the general direction heading towards the Mortuary.

I nodded, we then began following these two to their supposed command van, which was probably the most stereotypical black van I’ve ever seen, the likes from conspiracy movies and stories. “We’re halfway between your house and the Mortuary, this is a safe spot to have a bird’s eye view on the situation.” said the Cunning Man before he opened the side door.

The back compartment of the truck was transformed into a mobile command station with screens, radio equipment, and all sorts of scanners. The van was spacious enough to fit us all at the back along with the equipment.

“Well, just to show you big of an operation this is, just watch.” said the Cunning Man as Rhon shut the sliding door behind him.

The Cunning Man switched on the screens and they all showed a camera feed, some of them were from helmet mounted cameras, while one screen had feed from a military drone flying above, all were in night vision green.

“You see, this is the army that we have.” said the Cunning Man, “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Delta Federal Taskforce, though we’re mostly known as Delta Aces.”

I smiled, in fact I ended up laughing in joy, “This is how you handle the supernatural!”

Miguel looked and sounded impressed, “Yeah, through espionage!”

The Cunning Man, surprisingly, shook his head, “These kind of things backfire, the message I sent to Gelyn is not a small thing, we’re talking about a big problem.”

“What problem?” asked Gelyn.

“Let this Sabrina struggle with her own problems with joining the devil, but the REAL enemy is Majestic 12.” said Cunning Man.

My mouth slackened, Majestic 12 was the stuff of conspiracy theories, “You mean those guys are real?”

Donnell spoke up, “While we seek to properly contain, separate, and protect the United States and the human race from the paranormal and supernatural, the government of the United States think otherwise.”

“Majestic 12 have conducted the most successful cover up and clean up operation of all time, twice, their first one had problems because a respected investigative journalist published their exploits as a non-fiction novel in the 50s, but they were able to charge the supposed sources of the journalist as frauds.” explained the Cunning Man, “Their second operation at Roswell was the most successful one they had.”

“So they’re here because they want Sabrina?” asked Rhon.

“They may be planning to raid Sabrina’s house, we’re not quite sure, but as far as we’re concerned, it’s shoot to kill on those MJ 12 bastards.” said Cunning Man.

Donnell pointed at the screen, “They’ve reached her home.” he said.

The FLIR camera of the drone tracked Sabrina and Harvey as they said their last goodbyes and did their last kisses before Sabrina disappeared into her house. “Okay, now we’re waiting again.” said Cunning Man.

The camera tracked Harvey’s pickup truck as it left the Spellman Mortuary and headed back to Greendale, but then Harvey stopped at some nearby public parking lot, locked his car, and began walking towards the direction of the forest.

“Oh great, now that son of a bitch wants to be a Delta Ace.” said Miguel.

“What the hell is he doing?” said Cunning Man, when he begins asking questions, that is when you know that we’re in trouble, or rather Harvey is in deep trouble.

We sat there waiting for quite some time until the cameras picked up a flurry of activity from the forest as well as Sabrina and her aunts leaving the Mortuary. “Okay, we have something hot here, it’s nearly witching hour.” said Cunning Man over the radio.

We could see Sabrina riding on a broomstick while her aunts flew in the air, now they are truly witches, and we have a U.S. Military drone footage to prove it. “Wait, we can have them shot down, right?” asked Miguel.

“Yes, that drone is a reaper drone armed with air-to-air missiles.” said Cunning Man with a hint of pride, he then whispered into the radio, telling the drone operator to follow the witches.

“Can they be picked up by NORAD’s radars?” I asked.

“Nope, they’re flying way too low and too slow to be picked up by ground based radar.” said Cunning Man, “but they can be intercepted by radar of aircraft, most especially with an AWACS.”

The drone’s camera was pointed at the witches as it ceased its circular flight path and began chasing after them. It eventually followed them into a forest clearing larger than the one we saw, and this one was full of creepy looking witches, a dark priest, a big tabernacle, and - though the witches may not be aware of this - Special Operations snipers that could kill them if things go bad.

“The witching hour, oh God.” said Donnell.

“This was why the Delta Federal Taskforce was established in the first place, there were supposed cults within these parts of the country and as such the Deltas were organized as soon as FBI Director Hoover was in office.” said Cunning Man.

“So, we’re just supposed to eat popcorn while watching these guys confirm Sabrina into the hands of the devil?” asked Miguel.

“Unless Majestic shows up, we’re not allowed to shoot the witches, as long as they’re not using their powers to harm any human being.” answered Cunning Man.

I checked my watch, it was nearly midnight, no one would want to remember whatever happens from this point onward but it would be vital if it were not to be forgotten.

“Wait, where are your forces stationed at?” I asked.

“We have agents surrounding the clearing, as well as agents strategically placed along several parts of Greendale, most especially along all the roads leading to the Interstate highway.” answered the Cunning Man.

“But how about the Spellman Mortuary?” I asked.

The Cunning Man dug deep in his brain, his face made it obvious, “Well…uh…oh no.” he said.

I rubbed my forehead, “Right, we’re going to go standby outside the Mortuary, just the two of us because none of these fellas can shoot a gun.” I said, referring to my friends.

The Cunning Man nodded, “You’re right, damn.” he said.

I pulled out my Walter PPK as Cunning Man pulled out one of those special ops assault rifles from somewhere beneath his coat, we got out of the van and cautiously but quickly made our way to the Spellman Mortuary.

Upon reaching the Spellman Mortuary, we saw a young man sitting by the chairs on the front porch, he sounded British, “I’m sorry, but who are you gentlemen?”

The Cunning Man was facing the forest, “Go talk to him, I’ll provide cover fire.” he hissed.

“Well, let’s just say that we’re very concerned friends of Sabrina and…I’m sorry, who are you?” I asked.

“My name is Ambrose, I’m her cousin.”

“I’m Luis, though I don’t think she would have any reason to mention anything about me.” I said.

“Not really, you’re the only guy that she’s talked about other than Harvey.” said Ambrose, he then crossed his arms, “Now, what is it that you want?”

We then heard a loud crack from somewhere in the woods, “Thunderclap.” announced Cunning Man.

The response was the codeword ‘lightning’, only it’s just that we got it with a rain of bullets instead. I scrambled and found a suitable cover behind the house, while the Cunning Man cleanly got rid of the threats with short bursts of fire.

Out of grim curiosity, I carefully approached the bodies once it was clear that there were no further threats, it was two clean shots to the head, “Nice shot.” I said as the Cunning Man approached.

“Rule one, you’re not a C.S.I. investigator, please don’t investigate your own kills. And secondly, that was the worst shot, I was aiming for the leg!” hissed the Cunning Man.

“I’m sorry, who the hell are you guys!?” exclaimed Ambrose.

“If you want the truth, then let’s just say that not all humans despise witches, or rather there are those that understand the need for secrecy among covens…and that there is a fine line between magic and the thirst for aggression of normal humans, we are that line.” said Cunning Man.

Ambrose looked amazed, “You mean-”

“Are you a warlock?” asked Cunning Man.

“Y-…how did you know?”

“That is not for you to know.” snapped the Cunning Man without raising his voice, “The point, Ambrose, is that there are some nasty humans against witches and while we do not support you, we also do not support your magic falling to the hands of much more evil humans.”

Ambrose looked puzzled, “Wait, I’m a warlock and I have seen things that are weird for a human, but this just tops all of them.”

We then heard a window creak open and then a really loud thud which was then followed by a loud ‘argh!’ and some words in Russian, or it sounded Russian. “Russian?” I was stumped.

Cunning Man switched on the flashlight attached to his rifle, and there we saw a man who was as old as the Cunning Man, “Oh no.” said Cunning Man as if he had seen a ghost.

The man cursed in Russian, “Guess we Cold War buddies would always be crossing paths?” he said in an English that was being overpowered by his Russian accent, much like what they did to Crimea.

Cunning Man shook his head and said something in Russian, in fact they began conversing in Russian, the next thing we did understand were the words, “So, Comrade Viktor Ramus of the KGB, what are you doing in the United States?”

“Hah!, I wanted our meeting to be atop the White House while locked in a fist fight, just like how we met atop the Kremlin!” said the Russian. Cunning Man was much more of a badass than I thought.

I chuckled, “Wait, wait, what?” I said with a grin.

“Yeah, my great granddad busted into Berlin and met his great granddad, that is until the Cold War started, my granddad spied for the KGB on the paranormal things in the USSR.” said Viktor.

“Think of it as something like MKOFTEN but it was KGB.” interjected Cunning Man.

“Well our great granddads met in the Philippine Islands, something to do with the Huk communist rebellion.” said Viktor.

“It was a stalemate, both men returned alive.” said Cunning Man.

“My granddad met his granddad in East Germany when my granddad was told to secure special evidence of UFOs over East Germany.” said Viktor.

“Your damn right about that, my granddad won that battle, which is why the CIA had the documents on the UFO occurrences over the other side of the Wall.” said Cunning Man, “Our fathers met too during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, when we were supposed to secure an ancient magic tome-”

“It’s in this house by the way.” Interrupted Viktor.

“And then we met when I was snuck into Moscow in order to secure dangerous artifacts from falling to the hardliners during the coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev.” said Cunning Man.

“Well you American pigs would take the artifacts from us anyway!” said Viktor, “Long story short, we ended up having a fist fight on the roof of the Kremlin while Gorbachev hid from the mutineers.”

“And now we meet again, on my land, and in witch territory too.” said Cunning Man with a grin.

“Old enemies.” said Viktor with a smile.

“Now, where’s the submarine?” said Cunning Man.

“What submarine?” asked Viktor, “I came here through the front door, do you really think your CIA would think that a middle aged man like me could pose a threat?”

“You know, after what happened at Salisbury, I thought you’d be shoved into Guantanamo as soon as you had set foot on this country.” said Cunning Man.

Suddenly we hard a loud and ominous sounding voice, it was a familiar one too, “What is going on here!?”

Viktor cursed in Russian while Cunning Man was ready with his rifle, we then saw two figures approach the house, and it was a pair of recognizable faces too. “Zelda, Hilda…” I croaked.

Zelda was one hundred percent pissed off, “What are you humans doing here, defiling the very sanctity of this forest during a dark baptism?”

“Women, you can’t talk to them.” slurred Viktor.

“Silence, you wretch!” hissed Zelda.

“Hey, isn’t that one of Sabrina’s friends?” said Hilda.

“It’s that diplomat boy.” Zelda said through greeted teeth.

“Kill me and an army will descend upon this household, I am telling you that!” I yelled at them, I even bothered throwing in a ‘Putang Ina’ in the mix.

“Actually, there is the other black ops guys of your black ops guys who are of the same government and yet are somehow enemies, and then there’s my partner who might have been killed -….I don’t know, maybe I should not have drank a shot of Vodka before this mission.” said Viktor.

Cunning Man explained the complex espionage, spy-vs-spy situation in one sentence, “Basically a bunch of humans, we - not including the Russian, are protecting your coven from other humans who are working within deep cells of the government.”

Hilda looked stunned, “Are you saying that humans know that we exist…”

“Intelligence services, they’re smarter than you’d think.” said Cunning Man, “Anyhow, we’re not being weirded out by your beliefs, we have the First Amendment to say that for us, at least for my agents.”

Zelda was unmoved but she was no longer angry either, “And this has been going on for quite some time?”

“Decades, since the establishment of the Secret Service, since the establishment of the FBI, since the establishment of the OSS, and up until now.” said Cunning Man, “And yet no one bothered you, you can thank us.”

“It was our doings that allowed us to survive.” said Zelda.

“But it would have been tougher if it hadn’t been for the evolving Intelligence groups of the United States, do you remember that one case where a botched summoning ended up killing a whole town?” said Cunning Man.

Zelda softened up a little, “Why yes, we knew who did that, she was sentenced to rot in hell for good by the council.”

“Did you even know how it never reached the outside world?” said Cunning Man, “Because Edgar Hoover had the place dynamited and released it to the press as a ‘Federal Raid’ sanctioned by the then recently renamed Federal Bureau of Investigation, and by the Department of Justice.”

“Oh so that’s how our day went so swimmingly well!” said Hilda with glee.

Zelda frowned but then she sighed, “We were nearly hung for that mistake by the Council, but then they credited the humans destroying their own town as a spell of ours, which it was not.” she then added, “Fine, we’re good for tonight, but we highly suggest that you tell us of your activities in the future.”

Ambrose, who disappeared into the house during the exchange between Cunning Man and Zelda, came out worried, “Guys, someone just stole the potion…I mean THE potion.”

Zelda and Hilda both had facial expressions which I never knew a witch could have, that would be a face of fear and despair, as if the world is about to end. “Oh no.” said Hilda.

“Hey, Ruskie, give the potion to them.” said Cunning Man, pointing his rifle at Viktor.

Viktor looked puzzled, “I didn’t take anything, I was here to take the tome from Afghanistan but then my back hurt and I decided to try to call for backup, but I ended up falling and running into you.”

“The Majestic Twelve, they’ve been here already.” I said.

“But I could have seen or heard them if they were here.” said Ambrose.

“Ambrose, you had your headphones on,” said Cunning Man flatly, “I saw them when we saw you.”

Zelda cast her glare at Ambrose, “Ambrose…”

“Okay, maybe I have been listening to some music but how could they know what I was doing?” asked Ambrose.

“The NSA could spy in on you through your laptop’s microphone and camera, and I would say that maybe your house is bugged, or maybe someone may have given you a bugged pen or a bugged item.” said Cunning Man.

“Wait, where is Sabrina?” I asked.

“Off in the woods, she’ll make her way here, I am so ashamed of her!” exclaimed Zelda, “Now, you three, I do not have time nor the energy to talk about the missing potion, however you three better help or else we will cast a curse on you!”

“Kill me and your coven be damned.” I said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, we’ll find it, we’ll help you.” said Cunning Man.

“Keep this diplomat boy in check.” said Zelda.

The Spellmans then trooped back into the Mortuary, leaving us three in the darkness of the forest, “Look, I know that it must be great to be untouchable like a cactus because of the agreement signed between our two countries, but these witches can end up putting a curse on a whole country if you push it too far.” said Cunning Man.

I shook my head, “I’m sorry, I did not know.” I said in the most unapologetic apology ever.

“Anyhow, let’s get some rest, we’ll have to become investigators by sunrise.” said Cunning Man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Yes, I know that this has a lot of contradictions with the Netflix series' version of the Dark Baptism Night, in fact, I took more from the comics than the Netflix version.  
> 2\. Oh boy, it's conspiracy time! I always wondered how conspiracy mystery and espionage would mix with horror, other than what the X-Files and Delta Green did of course.  
> 3\. Luis tend to wave his Diplomatic protection and Diplomatic Immunity like a big stick...something that, when you ask an actual Diplomat in real life, would be a bad idea.  
> 4\. I took A LOT from Lovecraft and Delta Green in this round, mainly by incorporating the Federal Raid on Not-Innsmouth as background.


	6. The Adventure of the Missing Potion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Expatriate is pulled into a crucial investigation into a missing potion, who in their right mind would steal something from a witch!?

I debriefed my friends as soon as I reached the van and accepted no other questions because it was past midnight and I had to go home immediately, but since it was a Saturday tomorrow, there was no pressure to wake up early. We simply said our goodbyes and agreed to keep in touch online.

The next day however was an interesting one, while I was eating breakfast at the table, I spotted a black sedan with the words ‘FBI’ in white on the door heading towards the Mortuary, that’s when I realized that things are probably about to get real now that the FBI had been called in.

I quickly finished my breakfast, bid my mother goodbye, donned the NBI - that being the Philippine version of the FBI -  jacket my uncle gave me, it was a blue-black jacket with the words ‘NBI’ on the back, and walked towards the Spellman Mortuary.

Upon reaching the Mortuary, I saw the FBI car parked outside, and Ambrose was there to greet me, “Hey, Luis-”

“Where’s Sabrina?” I asked.

“Oh, she’s in her room, better not disturb her.” said Ambrose, “That guy you’ve been with last night brought in another guy.”

I sighed, “Thank you.” I said, and then I entered the Mortuary and found the Cunning Man, Hilda, Zelda, and a man in a jacket with the FBI marking on the back.

“Good morning, Spellmans, NBI Special Agent Luis Quezon.” I said in jest.

The FBI Investigator looked at me as if I’m a ghost, “Wait, Georgio Quezon is your uncle right?” he asked, he was tall, young-looking, and had this air of being a geek or a nerd.

I nodded, “Yes, highest held office was Director of the NBI.” I said.

He shook my hand, “I am Pierce Mulder, FBI Special Agent, I was born and raised here in Greendale but I was away during the summer in a very important operation to arrest Number 5 on our Top 10 Most Wanted list.”

“How did you know that he was my uncle?” I asked.

“You share some traits, but I could tell that he was not within the first degree of consanguinity because some of your traits does not match his completely.” said Pierce.

“How did you get to know him?” I asked.

“We were working on a very special case…you won’t believe my portfolio and the cases I handle.” said Pierce, “There’s a reason why they keep on calling me ‘Fox Mulder’ at the Edgar Hoover Building.”

I shook my head, “Well, Mister Mulder, what are the findings so far?”

Pierce was somewhat taken aback, but then Cunning Man said “Don’t worry, Mulder, he’s a good kid, all of his uncle’s skills was handed down to him.”

Pierce smiled, “Well, the book was stored here in the den on that bookshelf-”

I saw footprints on the floor, “Let me guess, suspect was about 5 feet and 11 inches?”

Pierce was impressed, “How did you know?”

“My uncle taught me, hell, he wrote a textbook on forensics that is now being used by the Police Academy in my country as well as by the NBI Academy.” I said, “The spaces between the footprints says a lot about a person’s height and stance, the suspect must have gotten through that window, snatched the book from the bookshelf…but the question is why?”

Pierce snapped his finger, “Precisely.”

“I have the answer though, it’s most likely connected to the Mayor.” I said as I reached into the deep pockets of the NBI jacket for the note paper that I found weeks ago. “I found this in a body of the two missing aides when they were brought here for burial.”

Pierce gently too the paper and examined it against the light, “Invisible ink apparently.” he then snapped his head towards the Spellmans, “Do you still have the items found with the body?”

Zelda sighed, “Ambrose, please assist this gentlemen with their request.”

“Right this way, lads.” said Ambrose.

Ambrose led us to the room where they cleaned and prepared the bodies, he opened a drawer that had the items of the two aides of the Mayor in a sealed plastic bag.

“There’s the guys’ wallets, government IDs, and those things.” said Ambrose.

Pierce looked at the ID through the transparent bag, “Yup, these are the guys, and they have a Town Hall staff ID.” he said.

“But wait, how are these two cases related?” asked Cunning Man.

Pierce snatched a surgical glove from the surgical gloves box and pulled out a pen from the bag, “You idiots are being bugged.” he told the witches.

“Excuse me, but who are you calling idiots?” said Zelda.

“The government is calling you idiots.” said Pierce, he unscrewed the pen and it revealed a bunch of circuits and diodes where the pen should be.

“Oh hell, CIA special equipment.” said Cunning Man.

“Precisely, that has ears and a tracking device.” said Pierce, “These two were either told to leave these pens in the house or carry it with them as some form of tracking device for command and control purposes.”

“But what is their cause of death?” I asked.

“Someone placed a curse on anyone who would trespass on their house.” said Pierce, he then faced the Spellmans, “I too have read the Demonomicon, I’m no warlock but let’s just say that there is a copy in the unmarked evidence cabinet at the Edgar Hoover Building.”

Hilda was amazed, “Oh wow, this man really is smart!”

Zelda was however annoyed and unimpressed, “Then I guess you know why the potion is important?”

“Yeah, I can guess that it’s a death potion, the type that would be confused for Mustard gas, it’s so lethal that it could kill of an entire town when one drop, just one drop, is mixed into a town’s water supply. It’s obvious that the CIA would be interested in this cacophony of lethality, they’ve been experimenting with this things through MKULTRA.” said Pierce.

Cunning Man turned to me and whispered, “He’s a Black Cell on his own within the darker parts of the Government, I’m telling you.”

Zelda, even through the brick wall that was her face, was impressed somewhat, “Okay, that sounds reasonable enough, you’re right, it was one of…Edward’s past mistakes, other than that other one.”

“You mean marrying a mortal and having Sabrina? Yeah, we call that piece of family secret as Monday’s Memorandum back at my department composed of me, myself, and I.” said Pierce.

“Okay, now I’m fed up with your games, how did you know that!?” exclaimed Zelda.

“Are yo-…” Pierce took a deep breath, “We had a Brigadier General infiltrate your Satanic Church of the Night way back during Hoover’s time!” he said with a wide grin as if to insult the witches, even I was grinning, this guy was outpacing the witches by a long mile!

Zelda was furious, “Who and how!?”

“Oh, MKOFTEN, CIA’s witch and occult investigating group, they had an informant who served in the 50s as the Brigadier General of the Air Force, he’s Brigadier General Lansdale, he was a prolific - in modern day terms - troll who, during his deployment in the Philippines, used the natives’ fear of their local vampires to defeat a group of communists with machine guns, he was a pioneer of Psy-warfare.”

“So…you mean, someone knew of the incident and-…”

“How it all unraveled.” said Pierce, he smiled, “Look, I know this because only I had read through the real MKOFTEN documents and not the phonies they submitted at the Senate committee investigating their activities.” he then added, “Oh and I do believe you had a schism within your Church of the Night?”

Zelda would have nodded if it were not for her pride, “Free will is being championed by our Church.”

“Well, have I got news for you, Brigadier General Lansdale had a friend named General Michael Aquino who joined your Church of the Night before being deployed to Vietnam as a Psychological Warfare expert, upon returning to the States…well they executed Operation Hell-Rip, there’s even a Department of Defense file that was signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs as well as the Secretary of Defense.”

“And this thing would be?” Zelda asked.

“Operation Hell-Rip? To infiltrate and initiate a schism within the Church of the Night, he ended up tricking so many young women - most of whom are identified by the CIA as real witches - to join him. Little did the novice witches know that they would be kidnapped by STARGATE and experimented upon.” explained Pierce.

Zelda lunged at Pierce but was intercepted by Hilda, “Come on, Zelda, calm down, he-…he’s not part of it!”

Cunning Man looked annoyed, “Look, we already know how smart you are, why can’t you just carry on with the investigation?”

Pierce held up his hands, “I’m sorry, I just tend to tell everything I know when needed, that is on a need-to-know basis, and technically speaking your Delta Federal Taskforce is under my direct command.”

I shot a glance at the Cunning Man, he simply nodded, “Hoover was the first man to head the Delta Federal Taskforce, and since then, statistically, the best man for the job of being Investigator General - which on paper is equal to Spymaster General but in terms of decision making, the former is higher than my position - would be an FBI agent like this guy.”

“So, Investigator General is the highest in the whole organization or…” I said.

“Uh, no, the I.G. is the highest rank in a Cell, the whole of the D.F.T is mostly composed of independent Cells operating across the United States, however we have begun setting up cells in other parts of the world.” explained Pierce, “We’re part of the Greendale Cell, also known as Hoover’s Own.”

“Well, the Cell began in the Federal Raid of the nearby town of Salem but its jurisdiction has grown, the Cell was only declared as one when it included Greendale in its territory because that was when the Delta Federal Taskforce was officially established by Hoover in Greendale during a meeting with his own officers.” interjected Cunning Man.

Zelda snapped, “Look, I am not boring you here with witch history, so you shouldn’t bore us with whatever history you have.”

Pierce conceded silently, he then said “Has any nearby air force radar detected a helicopter or anything last night?”

The Cunning Man shook his head, “Our contacts at the Air Force found none.”

“Okay, and last night the roads were blocked?” asked Pierce.

“Yes, but some MJ12 got through and we had to kill most of them and secure their vehicles.” said Cunning Man.

Pierce rubbed his chin, “We only have two leads as to the whereabouts of the potion, either in some secret MJ12 Cell operating in Greendale, or in the Mayor’s office.”

“But who could have taken it?” asked Hilda.

“I have no evidence but I have a gut feeling that it was the Coroner.” said Pierce, “I mean look at the evidence, technically he was allowed to use your facilities for his farce of a cover up, his two other colleagues died due to the protection spell and he had to cover it up in front of you guys.”

“We didn’t buy into the cover up, it’s too obvious that they were killed by magic.” interjected Ambrose.

“But did the coroner leave a pen?” I asked.

Hilda lit up, “Oh I remembered that he left his pen in our of-…oh.”

Zelda rubbed her forehead, “Hilda?”

“Yes, Zelda?”

“Get the pen, now!” exclaimed Zelda.

“Ooh, I guess someone had been able to listen in on everything spoken about in this house.” said Pierce as Hilda disappeared upstairs, she then came back downstairs with the pen.

Pierce took the pen from her and unscrewed it open, same thing with the other pen, it had a bunch of diodes and small circuits, “Well, how would you look at that, this is such a textbook, yet an ingenious, strategy, it’s like Operation Condor all over again.”

“Has that have anything to do with us witches?” asked Ambrose.

“Why yes, Operation Condor was part of MKOFTEN, who by then would be dissolved and transferred to another unit STARGATE after Watergate happened. Condor hunted down witches and occult practitioners in South America, it was a hundred times worse than the Salem and Greendale, imagine witch hunts carried out through state sponsored extrajudicial killings, they packaged this black ops to the South American dictators with a bonus; to kill communist sympathizers and crush any resistance to the regimes of South America.”

“Well, that was unexpected!” explained Hilda.

Pierce shrugged, “Don’t worry, we’ll handle this while you witches handle your own problems.”

We heard the phone ring upstairs, and then we heard a loud and worrying gasp which was then followed by a thud of the phone’s receiver and a series of sobs and footsteps.

The door slammed open to reveal Sabrina, who quite frankly looked wrecked to say the least, “Aunties….” she was choking up on her tears.

Hilda gently caressed Sabrina’s shoulder, “There, there, what happened last night was not your fault…”

“No, it’s not that - I think - Harvey’s parents called, he hasn’t returned!” exclaimed Sabrina.

Cunning Man, Pierce, and I were glancing at each other like we’re in some form of Mexican standoff, it’s November 1 and I owe Miguel money for his bet a week or two ago.

“Don’t just stand there! Let’s help find him!” said Sabrina.

Pierce pulled at his coat, “Right, this is now under my jurisdiction as a Federal Agent, time to get friendly with the local Sheriffs.” he sighed.

“Well, I can’t help you much for now, I’m better off working in the dark, I’ll try to get operatives to look for Mister Kinkle.” said Cunning Man, he then excused himself and walked out of the room.

“Well, it’s up to us two now.” said Pierce.

“You’re bringing me along?” I was surprised.

“Well, you were a friend of Harvey as well as with Sabrina over here.” said Pierce, “So now I do believe the first thing we should do is to head over to the Kinkle household and ask around, and by now maybe the Sheriff’s Office would initiate a search party.”

“I-…I can’t join you though.” said Sabrina, shaken, “I-…am not sure.”

“Let me guess, the Academy of the Unseen Arts? Yeah, well newsflash kid, I may be understanding of your situation but the more religious FBI agents in the Missing Persons department may not be as courteous as I am, they’re going to make you the number one suspect with an answer like that.” said Pierce.

“You know too much for a mortal.” said Sabrina.

Pierce shrugged, “Well, some mortals are born to know.”

I decided to excuse myself, “Look, I’ll just be going back home in order to do my chores, and then I’ll help.”

“Oh, allow me to drive you back to your home, it’s the one with the Philippine flag, I presume?” said Pierce.

“Yes, of course.” I said flatly.

“We’ll care about this search when they knock on our door.” said Zelda.

Pierce drove me back to my home, which was not much of a drive anyway, and that’s when he spotted the Mustang parked outside, “You know, I never expected that anyone would be into that sort of old cars nowadays.”

Well, technically ALL of Greendale uses old cars, it’s as if the rest of the United States had a trade embargo against the town or something, “Well, it’s a 1965 Mustang Fastback with a big engine underneath.”

“How much horsepower?” asked Pierce.

“Just 300 at the most.” I said.

“I’m just curious, I’m sorry, I was into cars until I joined the FBI.” said Pierce, “Anyhow, let’s keep in touch, I’ll be at the Sheriff’s office.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Pierce Mulder is a mix of Fox Mulder from the X-Files and the original cool detective, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.  
> 2\. The story behind Brigadier General Lansdale was real, no, really, sometimes reality can be stranger than fiction, I'm just going to leave this article from Ripley's Believe it Or Not, seriously it sounds unbelievable but it happened, the thing with using the belief of the locals on vampires against the locals. (https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/faked-vampire-attacks/)  
> 3\. Michael Aquino is based entirely off of the actual Michael Aquino that was a Satanist that started a breakaway church called the Temple of Set, but I blended elements of the real Michael Aquino into this fictionalized Michael Aquino in order to make the story fit with the setting's witchcraft and dark religion.


	7. Greendale Watch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Expatriate discovers the unusual tussle between two services of the law, and Harvey supposedly goes missing.

I was able to skip most of my chores by explaining to my mother what had happened; that Harvey had disappeared and that I was planning to join the search party, to which she agreed and allowed me to, but as for her however she was tired from cleaning the house already.

I did all that I could to help around the house, my father was scheduled to come back by the end of the week and the last thing I need is to look bad when it comes to my parents. Once I was finished with whatever duties was assigned to me, I got into the Mustang and roared towards Greendale.

On my way to Greendale however I spotted a group of people looking through the forests, I assumed that they were the search party, I continued driving towards the main part of town with the plans to meet with Gelyn at the Greendale Gazette and then call my other friends for a status report.

As I want past the first intersection, a ominous looking black 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, with the Rally Sports headlights,appeared and it sounded loud and heavy. Out of my sense of security, that being my paranoia, I decided to do a classic trick to check whether or not the car behind was following me; I drove around a part of town in a circular pattern, if the car was not a tail it would have not followed me in circles, but this one did.

This car behind was indeed a tail, maybe the Coroner wanted to make sure that I never got back to the Gazette, or maybe he knows that harming me would bring whatever problem they have way up to the diplomatic levels so instead he wants to know who my friends are, who my allies are, to maybe find a way to cripple our effectiveness as a group.

I had to get an upper hand first, I quickly turned around a corner and promptly stopped my car behind a parked car in front of a laundry shop, somehow the tail overshot me, he must have mistaken my car for another parked car, and I ended up tailing him instead.

I noticed that the Camaro started driving erratically, turning somewhat sharply down corners and trying to shake me off generally, but without putting the pedal to the metal just yet. After eight minutes or so of me following the Camaro, the driver of the Camaro suddenly gunned the engine and went rocketing off around a corner.

I was not going to let this jackass get away easily, I gave chase to the Camaro, which by then it started to sink into me that the Camaro may be a heavily modified vehicle , I noticed then that the rear wheels are much bigger and wider, as if they were meant for Drag Racing.

It was able to power down straights really quickly, much quicker than my Mustang, but suffered in the corners, a weakness that I managed to take advantage of by drifting my Mustang instead of turning into corners. However, whenever I was able to gain on the Camaro, it would be able to power away with its heavy sounding engine.

Our chase lasted for twenty minutes or so with nothing but the sounds of loud V8 engines tearing through the streets of Greendale while more than half the town is out in the forest looking for Harvey. But I managed to corner the Camaro when it turned into a dead end.

I pulled out my gun as I got out of the car, but then the driver of the Camaro revealed himself, “Agent Mulder!?” I exclaimed, gun pointed at him.

Pierce had his hands up, “I thought you’d appreciate the car, I did not expect for you to go after me like that, I was starting to think that you were not Luis Quezon!” he exclaimed.

“Well-….I thought you were out to kill me.” I lowered my gun and began to chuckle.

“Sorry, I thought that you’d recognize me in this car.” said Pierce, “It’s my dad’s 1969 Camaro RS, I tuned it to have an engine output of 650 horsepower from its 427 Big Block engine.”

“That’s twice than my Mustang.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but you were the better driver, and you had automatic while I had this traitorous stick shift to deal with.” Pierce laughed, “Anyhow, where were you going?”

“To a friend of mine, someone who may be able to test out one of our two theories as to the whereabouts of the potion.” I said.

“But how about Harvey?” asked Pierce.

“Well what about Harvey? I thought you had it settled?” I said.

“Well, the Sheriff’s led a search party composed of nearly all the residents of Greendale, I am now left with finding out what happened to him, either through the usual textbook situations or through my book of horrors.” said Pierce, “So, where’s this friend of yours?”

“At the Gazette’s office.” I said, “Follow me.”

The two muscle cars reached the Greendale Gazette rather quickly, and we debarked from our vehicles and entered the office even quicker. Gelyn was seated on a table at the staff lounge area, “Oh, hey Luis!” said Gelyn, “Officer Mulder?”

“He’s…FBI?” I said.

“No, you must have read in the old papers that I was part of the police force.” said Pierce, “That was, what, nearly a decade ago?”

“Yeah, sorry, I saw your face on the older papers.” said Gelyn.

“Was it about that time I chased after a drug dealer in a high speed chase around Greendale on the Camaro?” said Pierce with a smirk, “Those were the good times, I’m telling you, though I don’t think the police force longer exists.”

“I’m sorry, what do you mean by police force? Do you mean the Sheriff’s office?” I was still confused as to the policing system in the United States.

“Greendale had its own police force but it was restricted to the town itself, but the Sheriff’s Office on the other hand was able to patrol the outlying forests, you know, where most of the disappearances happen.” explained Gelyn.

“Which is why, after the election of Mayor Smith, more money was being poured into the Sheriff’s Office, I mean I did not really expect for the Greendale Police to be around any longer, I was expecting them to be absorbed into this unified policing force that was mostly Sheriff’s Office than Greendale Police.”

“I don’t trust the Sheriff or his boys.” said Gelyn.

“Yeah, me too, that paedophile they beaten to death was cleared by the FBI of any wrong doing.” said Pierce.

Gelyn then focused her eyes on me, “Luis, can we talk alone?”

“If this is about the witches, Agent Mulder here is part of our ring of investigators.” I said.

Gelyn glanced at Pierce, “Alright then, I went to the Town Hall to submit some documents on behalf of Mister Bradley, that’s when the Mayor asked me into his office because he wanted to issue a statement with regards to what happened on Debate night.”

“Let me guess, you saw something out of place, like what every good journalist should see?” asked Pierce.

“Yes, I saw a weird vial sitting on top of his shelf that was not there before, in fact it looked like it came from the Spellman Mortuary of all places.” said Gelyn.

For a moment it’s as if everything in the room slowed down to a stop, Pierce and I shared glances, “How could you say that?” I asked.

“Mayor Smith kept photos and other wooden knick-knack from the local gift shop, but he would not keep something that’s glowing, and it’s not a lamp I tell you.” said Gelyn.

“What color was it?” asked Pierce.

“It’s-…it’s black, and I don’t mean like a black fluid inside a glass bottle but its as if it’s absorbing the light around it.” said Gelyn.

Pierce shook his head grimly, “It’s the thing that we’ve been looking for alright, we’ve got to get it back.”

“You can’t just walk in there and get it.” said Gelyn, “Besides, the Sheriff’s men are a bunch of thugs who’s working for the Mayor.”

“Then we’ll fight fire with fire, I can get the Greendale Police force to mount a coup.” said Pierce.

I held up my hand and shook my head, “No, that would bring too much attention to us, to the town, and most importantly it might harm the coven, what we need to pull off is a heist.”

“A heist?” asked Gelyn.

“Yes, I can provide the damn good driving skills while you can provide the hacking skills.” I said, “Look, just tell the Cunning Man of the heist plan and tell him to meet me in the Spellman Mortuary, tell him that I’ll need plans of the building as well as a map of Greendale.”

Gelyn looked at me somewhat blankly and simply said, “Okay then, I-…I’ll do it.”

“And I need for you to go to the Spellman Mortuary for the briefing.” I said.

“Wait, what is your plan?” asked Pierce.

“Why is the vial still there? Is there something hidden in Town Hall that we do not know about?” I asked.

Pierce rubbed his chin, “That is a legitimate question, if someone else wanted the vial, it would be somewhere else by now.”

“I think we should meet with your old buddies at the police force.” I said, “If the Sheriff is with the mayor on this one then we need another force to counter those jug heads.”

“Okay, but you’re taking the Camaro, I regret bringing that thing just to show off a bit.” said Pierce.

I stared at him in puzzlement, “Excuse me?”

“It’s the manual shifting, it’s tiring and troublesome if you’re driving a drag car - something that should only go in straight lines - around town, and the way you pulled off those corners, I think you should get that car instead.” said Pierce.

“Wouldn’t your father be a bit pissed off?” I asked.

“Not really, he wanted me to do whatever I want to do with it and maybe get rid of it eventually, I mean I’d rather be driving modern cars.” said Pierce.

“Yeah, well you can talk to my dad about the ownership of your car, he may get it off your hands, but as for me, I would test drive it for him then, if you know what I mean.” I then presented him an open hand, he automatically gave the keys of the Camaro to me while I slid the keys to the Mustang across the table to him.

We drove like sane people to this old and aging precinct building made of red bricks that had the words ‘Greendale Police’ and it was located along Treacle Mine Street.

“Damn, is this thing from the Victorian Era?” I remarked as I got out of the Camaro.

“Well, the joke went that Sherlock Holmes called here once.” said Pierce as he got out of the Mustang.

We entered the building and was greeted by a front desk officer who recognized Pierce, “Pierce Mulder, how long has it been!?”

“Good to see you too, Chelsea.” said Pierce, “Still the civilian administrator around here?”

The woman nodded, “Yup, still the one making sure the files are clean and transparent.”

“It was part of the old Mayor’s plan to have a accountable policing.” explained Pierce, he then asked Chelsea, “Who’s the captain around here?”

“Captain Raymond Vimes is now in charge.” said Chelsea.

“Ah, the old Sergeant, good to see him Captain of the Greendale Watch.” said Pierce with a smirk, “Can you ring us in for me please?”

“Sure.” Chelsea said, who then disappeared into the back.

“You see what I did there?” asked Pierce.

“Yeah, Greendale Watch, Raymond Vimes, Terry Pratchett, right?” I asked.

Pierce snapped a finger, “Yup, most especially that.”

Chelsea returned with a tall man of dark skin complexion and had that face that always meant business, “Special Agent Pierce Mulder, what made you come here again?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve finished my case and I wanted to go back to my hometown for some time.” answered Pierce.

Captain Vimes - damn, I would always love writing that - glanced at me, “Ah, you’re that kid who writes exceptional op-ed pieces on the paper.”

“Thank you, sir.” I said.

“Now, what can I do for you, gentlemen?” asked Captain Vimes (am I going to get sued by Pratchett’s estate if I keep on writing that?)

“This concerns a lot about witches, mainly the Spellman family.” said Pierce.

Vimes glared at him, “You’re still at it with your theories, aren’t you?”

“Well at least this time I have had access to top secret documents to back my claims.” said Pierce.

“Really?” said the Captain.

“Captain, the current Mayor is planning to do something bigger than Watergate, he has this super deadly poison that can kill off entire populations.” said Pierce seriously.

“And the witches told you this?” said the Captain stoically.

“They asked us for help to retrieve this potion, it’s theirs, or rather it was a mistake of theirs.” said Pierce.

“I don’t see why this should be a police matter.” said Vimes.

“It has been proven that the Sheriff and his thugs have become the Mayor’s private army, maybe if you help us, Mister Mulder here can release whatever they have on the Mayor and the Sheriff in order to bring them down.” I said.

Pierce glared at me, “What are you doing?” he hissed.

Vimes rubbed his chin, “Bringing down the Sheriff’s office you say? We already have evidence of the screw up but never had the respect from Mayor Smith, I knew that there was a cover up on that guy’s part.”

“So, is it a deal?” I asked.

“What do you need precisely?” asked the Captain.

“To arrest the Sheriff and his men, do gun battle if you have to, while we take the dangerous vial from the Town Hall.” I said.

“We don’t have an arrest warrant.” said the Captain.

“I say that it’s meant for an ongoing Federal Investigation headed by me.” said Pierce, “How about manslaughter, police brutality, and culpable violation of the constitutional rights of a suspect, I think you know who this suspect is.”

“Ah, the man with a bad past, bad timing, and a town out for blood to avenge some dead kid.” said Vimes, “Fine, we’ll back you on this one.”

“Good, I already have a plan, you won’t mind going to the Spellman Mortuary for some planning and briefing, wouldn’t you?” I asked.

“I would not mind.” said Vimes.

“Great, meet you at the Mortuary.” I said, “Don’t bring in the rest just yet.”

Vimes then asked, “What is it that you have in mind right now, kid?”

I answered him straightforwardly, “Break into the town hall, get the potion, and then get the hell out of there.”

“And this potion, just how deadly is it?” asked Vimes.

“One drop,” Pierce held out his index finger, “just one drop can contaminate a deep well, and that could kill off whoever drinks from the water, we are talking about a poison of biblical proportions.”

I saw the eyes of Vimes stare upwards at the ceiling, “Well, that is certainly deadly.” he then stood up and pointed at Pierce, “The only reason why I’m believing you would be as an apology for what happened the last time.”

Pierce smirked a bit, “No offense taken, Captain, though we could have stopped that serial killer in our town if you had listened to me.”

I glared at Pierce, “Are you telling me that you were able to nearly catch a serial killer?”

Pierce nodded, “There was the East Ripper killer, first victim was at Florida and his last victim was in New York, but not before being able to kill someone in Greendale, I was able to deduce that the killer was about to strike here but Captain here did not believe it until it happened.”

Vimes swallowed his pride, “I know, I know, it was my fault.” he placed his hand on his chest.

“It’s okay Captain, now we’ll just have to bring down this corrupt Mayor.” said Pierce, “Now if you would excuse us, we have to go.”

“Okay, see you at the Mortuary in two hours?” asked Vimes.

I nodded and so did Pierce, “Yeah, two hours.” said Pierce.

As we were about to leave, we saw an officer running towards the Captain’s office and we heard the conversation mainly because the first speaker did not bother keeping it down, “They found Harvey Kinkle…um…outside the Philippine Consulate.”

My gut collapsed and so did my other organs inside me, the Massachusetts Philippine Consulate was barely an hour’s drive away from here and it was located in the outskirts of some town named Northdale, the irony is that the Consulate was nearer to the Mortuary than Northdale itself.

“Why in the gates of my country’s consulate?” I rubbed my face.

Pierce placed his hand on my shoulder, “We have no fault in this, besides, I’ve seen far worse incidents.”

I walked back to the Captain’s office, “Is Harvey still alive?” I asked without a prelude.

The officer nodded, “He was reported to be found naked, with bruises all over him, fifty meters from the walls of the Consulate.”

“My father is the Consul, has he said anything?” I asked.

The officer shook his head, “Your father, or so I heard, is in Washington D.C, a Acting Consul Jose F. Luna called the local authorities of Northdale who then called the authorities of Greendale including us.”

I cursed beneath my breath in Tagalog, Consul Jose F. Luna was once a General in the Philippine Army, has been confirmed to be a descendant of the famous Katipunan General Antonio Luna, and seems to act like his great grandpa.

“We’ve got to go to the Consulate, immediately.” I said to Pierce as we walked away from the office.

“Why?” he asked.

“If this is the witches’ doing, God help them, Satan help them, the universe help them, for they would be going against General Jose Luna.” I said.

General Antonio Luna was a lot like what if George Washington cursed a lot, actually beat up his soldiers who step out of line, and is willing to disobey incompetent authorities in order to get shit done, he ended up getting assassinated by his own men because of his strict and outspoken behavior.

Now, General Jose Luna, his descendant, is considerably worse, this guy launched a coup against every single sitting President with the exception of the past three presidents who were smart enough to place him FAR from the Philippines. He ran a group claiming to be a modern version of the Katipunan.

In American terms, imagine the descendant of George Washington forming the Sons of Liberty and threatening every single sitting US President with a coup, but it just so happened that General Jose Luna had actually attempted the coup, be it by occupying a military base, or by launching an actual airstrike against Malacanang, the place of power of the President!!

In short, witches beware, there’s a madman on the loose, he’s worse than the devil, he’s worse than anybody else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. For those who read the comic and watched the show, you know how much they spared Harvey when compared to his fate in the comics.  
> 2\. Give yourself a pat on the back if you understood the references that will be listed below.  
> 3\. The car chase, if you answered Bullitt starring Steve McQueen, then you are correct, the best kind of correct.  
> 4\. If you got all the Terry Pratchett references during the Police Precinct scene, Captain Samuel Vimes will be proud.  
> 5\. General Antonio Luna, oh boy, for International readers, Luis' explanation of the fierce Filipino General is half correct, the other half being the fact that even though he was a drinker, a womanizer, and a hot head, he was also a scientist, of the Earth Sciences and the Military Sciences.  
> 6\. General Jose Luna on the other hand is a fictional descendant of Antonio Luna, however his past activities is basically all the attempted coups in the history of the modern Philippines summed up into one guy.  
> 7\. The Katipunan, for international readers, is like the Sons of Liberty in the United States, they are the revolutionaries that fought for Independence against Spain, though they were crushed by the United States eventually.  
> 8\. The only reason why I added the Luna(-tics) was because - and the Netflix users in the Philippines would understand this - the movie based on Antonio Luna was surprisingly dropped in Netflix on October 31, and as any viewer or fan of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina would tell you, it's Sabrina Spellman's birthday.  
> 9\. Initially, I wanted a Brooklyn 99-esque set of characters with the originally Discworld Watch-esque Police force, but I realized that getting the right characterization would be difficult.


	8. The Undiplomatic Diplomat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With his father away, someone else is in charge of the Consulate, someone who is not supposed to be in the diplomatic arm of Government, the Expatriate also discovers a dark secret surrounding the Consulate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there's a lot of cursing in this chapter.

When we drove back to my home, we spotted a vehicle with a diplomatic plate parked by the driveway, at that moment I knew that they were looking for my father, the Consul, and maybe they were that desperate to check into his house rather than call up the Embassy at Washington D.C.

Pierce decided to come along for the ride, in fact he wanted to make sure that he would be the first Federal agent on the scene, but first we would have to leave one car and just use the Camaro with me driving it.

As Pierce parked the Mustang on the driveway, a man dressed in our national costume, the Barong Tagalog, came outside and greeted us, “Are you the Consul’s son?” he asked.

“Yes, and this here is a Federal Agent, my father is at Washington D.C, you must know that by now.” I said.

The man shook his head, “We know that, but the General wants you to meet him.” he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a red arm band with the sun and ‘Ka’ in Baybayin script on it - the symbol of the Katipunan, the man then broke into Tagalog, “Mister Quezon, alam namin and alam mo.” (We know what you know.)

“Tungkol ba ito sa nangyari sa Konsulado?” I asked (Is this about what happened at the Consulate?)

“Hindi lang yoon, tungkol ito kay Sabrina Spellman at ang pamilya niya.” (It’s not just that, this is also about Sabrina Spellman and her family.) said the man.

I gulped in my nerve, there was this saying about diplomats, they’re spies but without the chance of ever being arrested, and General Jose Luna was in charge of Army Intelligence before, please don’t tell me that the issue with witches has gone beyond the US Government.

“Okay, we’ll follow you.” I said.

We followed the diplomat car, a black Cadillac SUV, to the Philippine Consulate which, while not as surrounded by forest as the Spellman Mortuary, is still somewhat engulfed by nature but at least by friendlier trees than those at the Mortuary.

The Consulate was heavily defended, since it was a diplomatic building after all, it had high walls with barbed wires as well as a contingent of armed guards, all of which - according to my father - came from the Philippine Marines AND the legendary 1st Division, the elite fighting unit of the Armed Forces.

We were led through the gates and found ourselves to have our teeth kicked in by time itself, I swore when I saw a bunch of soldiers dressed in historical uniforms carrying period correct rifles, it’s either they were preparing for a visitation by some US Official, or General Luna has gone mad. I wondered where the other Consulate officials are, but then I realized that it was November 1, and I'm used to the drill; 'No offices on November 1 in lieu of All Saints' Day' would be what the diplomatic offices of my country would be posting outside their gates.

What’s even worse is that the Philippine flag was being flown upside down along with a red Katipunan flag flying underneath it, while a flag being flown upside down is generally considered to be a signal of distress, an upside down Philippine Flag would symbolize that the country is at war.

I parked the Camaro near the entrance and looked around our environment as I got out of the car, “What the hell is going on?” I told myself.

General Luna met us beside our car, he was dressed up as General Antonio Luna, “Ah, good afternoon to both of you.” said Luna.

“My father is the Consul, I am Luis Quezon, this here is Federal Agent Pierce Mulder.” I said.

The General removed his cap, “Forgive me for looking like my great grandfather but we were just practicing for the opening ceremony, it will be attended - or so I heard - by the Secretary of State of the United States, the President of the Philippines, the Mayor of Greendale, and the Mayor of Northdale.”

Interestingly enough, he had the moustache and the gun, and my eyes tell me that it was no dummy prop, it was a loaded revolver from the time of General Antonio Luna, or it looks like it, “Now, why did you need me?”

Luna laughed and much like his great grandfather, spoke directly and sharply, “Ano, ginagago mo ba ako?” (Are you making a fool out of me?) he laughed.

“General?” I asked.

“Itong nakikita mong mga sundalo, alam nila lahat tungkol sa mga witches ng Greendale.” he waved towards the contingent of troops standing in line. (The soldiers you see here, all of them know everything about the witches of Greendale.”

“Imposible!” (Impossible!) I exclaimed.

“Alam mo yung gago na…yung, tang ina naman O, yung Amerikano na parang baboy na ang pangalan ay Cunning Man?” (You know the idiot…son of a bitch…that American that’s as fat as a pig, goes by the name ‘Cunning Man’?)

I was stunned, just how big of a spy ring Cunning Man wanted to keep around these witches? Oh and technically speaking, the Cunning Man is just slightly bent out of shape. “Yes, he knows a lot about witches.” I said, “Look, how about Harvey?”

Luna sighed, “Wag mong sabihin na kaibigan mo siya?” (Don’t tell me that he’s a friend of yours?)

“Yes, we’re classmates, is there something wrong with that?” I asked.

He dismissed the thought with his hand, “Nothing, nothing, it’s just that he looks so beaten up that we had to call in a doctor from Northdale General Hospital.”

“Look, General, you won’t mind telling me what the hell is this about and what this has got to do with Sabrina Spellman?” I asked.

The General reached into an inner pocket in his military tunic and pulled out an armband, “Ito, para sa iyo, anak ng inang bayan.” (Here, it’s for you, son of our motherland.) it was the same Katipunan armband the man showed us.

I took the armband and slipped it into my pocket, “General, what the hell is going on?” I asked.

The General began walking, “Do you know how long it took for us to build this Consulate?” he began.

“I don’t know, four years?” I asked.

“Correct, four years is enough time to start getting suspicious of things.” said Luna, “Now, you may know that I’ve been shoved into the Department of Foreign Affairs by the old Army Chief of Staff who then became President because of my ferocious temperament against incompetence? “

I nodded, “You once pointed a gun at the President because of the electricity crisis way back in the late 80s”

“Precisely!” the General took pride in his strictness, “And so I became a slave, a pencil pushing slave.” he shook his fist, “I was last assigned to the New York Consulate as a forward officer for Massachusetts, you know, as a contact person to push more papers for our fellow compatriots who are too far from New York.”

“So you lived here?” I asked.

“Yan ay ang pinakamalaking pagkakamali ko sa buhay.” (That is the biggest mistake I’ve ever done in my life.) he sighed, “So many things happened that I became very concerned for everyone, not just for our countrymen but for our American friends too, especially the ones that disappear into the forest."

“Let me guess,” interjected Mulder, “you did the same thing I did, you looked into the witches.”

“I sneaked around the Spellman Mortuary when I had time, I did not find out much but then the guy, Cunning Man, contacted me and connected me to his spy ring.” he then smiled, “It was a lucky chance that the Massachusetts Consulate was established, parang nag tatag ang Republika ng Pilipinas ng barak sa larangan ng digmaan kontra sa mga mangkukulam at ginawa akong Heneral ng sandatahang lakas!” (It’s as if the Republic of the Philippines established a barracks at the battlefield in the war against witches and I was made General of the Armed Forces!)

“So, you brought in a bunch of the Diplomatic Security Service?” I asked.

“Hindi lang yoon, dinala ko ang mga aking sundalo galing sa mga Hukbong Kawal Pandagat ng Pilipinas at ang Unang rehimyento ng Scout Rangers, lahat ng mga katandaang opisyal ng aking mga military unit na pumunta sa aking kamay bilang kumander - dinala ko sila dito upang bumuo ng grupo na nakikita mo dito, ang Katipunan.”

Look, I apologize for the barrage of Tagalog that you’re being forced to read, but this guy is way too arrogant and proud of his country to be an efficient diplomat, but here goes nothing:

(Not only that, but I also brought soldiers from the Philippine Marines and the 1st Scout Ranger Regiment, mainly my officers from the military units under my command before. I brought them all here to form the group that you see here now; the Katipunan.)

“So, the guys you launched coups with.” I summarized his bold statements in a flat tone of voice.

“Yes, correct.” he said.

“So, where the hell were your troops last night?” I asked.

“Ah, we heard about the operations but the Cunning Man told us not to get involved, I agreed because we don’t want to shoot at our American allies, we want to shoot the witches!” said Luna.

“Wait, you should not do that, trust me.” said Pierce, “They should be left alone and not bothered with, trust me.”

“Why should I do that? The witches are a cause of our problems, I mean look at poor Harvey, he was semi-lucid and he was saying ‘the witches, the w-…the three…’

Pierce and I shared glances, “The weird sisters?” said Pierce.

“Ay nako, wala akong pake ko anumang tinatawag mo sa kanila!” (I don’t care what you call them!) he exclaimed.

I translated to Pierce what Luna just said, “Well, listen, General, what we did last night was to protect the witches from external governmental interference.”

Luna chuckled at the idea, “Look, you bastards raped our country because we thought you’d be friendly, but look at what you did!! Do you want the same thing to happen to YOUR country but this time with witches?”

Pierce nodded slowly, “I see where you’re coming from, but if you attack the witches, they will get you killed.”

“Who says I want to attack witches? I say I’m going to kill them if they attack us first.” said Luna, “And if I die…then I die for my country.”

We then heard a series of hurried footsteps, “Heneral, Heneral!” (General, General!), it was one of those men dressed up as Katipuneros, “Merong pong mga bisita si Harvey Kinkle-…si Sabrina Spellman po at tiya ka ang mga Tita nya po.” (There are visitors for Harvey Kinkle-…it’s Sabrina Spellman and her aunts, sir.)

“Putang ina!” (F*ck!) exclaimed Luna.

“What are you going to do, shoot her in the Consulate?” I said sarcastically.

“Ano ako, tanga?” (What am I, an idiot?) said Luna, he then told his soldiers, “Papasukin niyo nga sila, punyeta!” (Let them in. Damn it!)

The man snapped a salute and promptly ran back to the gate and had it opened, Aunt Hilda was as soft-looking as usual while Zelda seemed to be a tough opponent for the ferocity of Luna - Antonio and Jose, while Sabrina was truly worried for Harvey.

“Ah, I knew you’d be here.” said Zelda.

“Well, my father is the Consul, and our country had apparently found him.” I said.

“Yes, we found him, stark naked, left for dead, outside our Consulate.” said Luna, “He was saying something about witches, three of them.”

Sabrina gasped, “I knew it.” she said.

“May alam pala si puta!” (The bitch knows something!) said Luna right in front of their faces.

“What did he say?” asked Hilda.

“It’s a little un-translateable but it’s something about concern for Harvey, it’s like saying ‘we’re sorry this had to happen to you’.” I lied.

“Oh, we understand, you’re very thoughtful…general?” said Hilda.

“Well, you see he is not the Consul but rather he is the Consul Pro Tempore, or acting Consul until my father comes back from Washington D.C.” I explained, “And yes, he was a General.”

“Where is Harvey?” asked Sabrina.

“In the Consulate.” said Luna, he then said “Sumunod kayo.” as he walked towards the entrance of the Consulate. (“Follow me.”)

Luna led us into the Consulate, mainly a special room for medical emergencies such as someone fainting because the line is so damn long. Harvey was sitting down on the bed, “This here is Doctor Mortimer from Northdale General.” said Luna.

“Sabrina!” exclaimed Harvey, he tried to stand up but was to weak to do so, Sabrina sat beside him, embraced him and even shared a long kiss with him.

“Doctor, can we have some private time for ourselves?” asked Luna.

The Doctor had to oblige, on his way out he said “Mister Kinkle is fine, just allow his body to recover.”

Once the doctor had left, General Luna pulled out his revolver, knocked Harvey out with a punch from his gloved fist and pointed the gun at Sabrina, “I know what you witches know, kayo ang gumawa nito!”

Well, crap, I’m translator now apparently, “He says that you were behind whatever you did to Harvey.”

“Ginawa niyo syang parang kahoy na kabayo para sa mga Troyano at tinambak niyo sa aking Konsulado upang maglagay ng sumpa sa aking Konsulado, sa aking Bansa!”

(You made him into a Trojan Horse and dumped him into our Consulate in order to place a curse on MY Consulate, MY COUNTRY!)

“We didn’t do it, I swear, General!” said Sabrina, “It was those weird sisters.”

“Heneral, ibaba mo yung baril mo at kausapin na lang nating ang mga tao na makaktulong sa atin, parang binabaril mo ang iyong sariling guro!” I gently reminded Luna. (General, lower your gun and speak to these people who can help us, it’s like you're shooting your own teacher!)

Luna seemed to have swallowed his pride, he lowered his gun, “Can you explain to me the curse that was placed in the Consulate? A hundred and fifty Americans, yes, American workers who were contracted to build the Consulate died of differing mysterious causes.”

Zelda sighed, “Oh for Satan’s sake, that’s because this Consulate was built on hallowed grounds, this was where Greendale held their witch executions before.”

“Ay punyeta!” (Damn it!) said Luna.

“We gave you enough omens to stop the construction of this Consulate but you didn’t listen!” said Zelda.

“Well, that sums up Filipinos, really, you see that flag flying at the front? It’s upside down, in your country, an upside down Stars and Stripes means ‘I’m in Distress’, meanwhile our country’s flag flown upside down means ‘F*ck you, we’re at war!’.” Luna chuckled.

“Wait, is it just me or there are more people who knows about our coven than we thought.” said Hilda.

“Ganito, tangalin mo ang mga masamang espirito sa itong Konsulado, at magiging kaibigan mo ang aking mga Katipuneros.” Luna held out a hand. (How about this, remove the evil spirits haunting the Consulate and my Katipuneros will be your friends?)

Zelda shook his hand after I translated it, “General, you have a deal.” she said, “But wait, you haven’t answered my sister’s-…question, how did you know of us?”

“Cunning Man told me, and also because I’ve been a resident of Greendale for-…” he then turned to me, “Anong taon naging Pangulo si Ramos?” he asked. (What year did Ramos become President?)

“1992.” I replied..

“I’ve been stuck in your town since 1992 as a pencil pusher for my country.” he said with a deliberate and angry frown, “I’ve seen your hijinks myself…”

“It was accidental though.” said Hilda.

Zelda shot a demeaning glance at Hilda, she then turned to the General, “And what do you plan to do then with us?”

“If you help us, we might shoot out any witch hunters.” said Luna.

Zelda sighed, “We’ll remove the curse as long as you keep your word.”

Luna nodded, “On my country, my honor, and my country’s honor, I do so on my word.”

“Let’s hold hands, Hilda, Sabrina, the curse is so old that I think it could be removed with a simple spell.” said Zelda.

They stood in a circle and chanted ‘Hoc in sanctificetur terram spirituum Domine, metum demeret nunc in vestra munia tuus venit tempus.’ six times.

Luna pointed his gun at every noise we heard, but then everything became calm when the witches released from their circle, “It is done.” said Zelda.

“Wait, Sabrina, before Harvey wakes up, what happened last night?” I asked.

Zelda was crossed, “She did not sign her name in the Book of the Beast, she did not get her dark baptism.”

Luna chuckled but then shut up as soon as Zelda glared at him.

Sabrina looked stressed out, “Please, if you’re my friend, if you’re really my friend, don’t talk about it.” she told me in her usual polite but serious way.

I nodded silently.

“Putang ina, matinidi yoon ah!” sighed Luna (Oh f*ck, that was intense!) referring to the removal of the curse, he then did a sign of the cross.

“Look, you can bring Harvey home, let’s pretend that none of this happened.” I said.

“Yeah, just put a spell on him to make him forget those things.” said Luna, he then turned to me and said “Ikaw naman, umuwi ka na, Katipunero.” (As for you, go home, fellow Katipunero.)

The only thing I have to say about him and for him would be; weirdo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. A armed group composed of pissed off officers of the Armed Forces forming a pseudo-revolutionary group related to the original revolutionary group(s) in the country's history may sound bizarre, but that's exactly what happened in 2003 and 2007 in the Philippines, yes, really. Look up Oakwood Mutiny and Manila Peninsula Siege. A bunch of military officers calling themselves as 'The New Katipunan' stormed an apartment building and had a standoff with Government forces.  
> 2.As what Luis said, I am so sorry for the barrage of Tagalog, but Jose Luna is one of those firebrand and diehard nationalists that should not be in the field of Diplomatic work.


	9. Endgame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plans are in place, the job is set, Luis and whoever he managed to either run into or drag into the mess must get the vial back and must get to the bottom of things.

The witches left with Harvey while General Luna wanted us to wait for him, he did not tell us why until he met us outside, this time he was wearing a black Barong Tagalog and looked like a proper diplomatic official, “Luis, Pierce, I have some debts to pay at the Mortuary.” he then turned to me and broke into Tagalog, “Alam mo, iho, ang araw ng Nobyembre uno? Wag mong sabihin sa akin na nakalimutan mo ang pagiging Filipino mo?” (Do you know, kid, the day of November 1? Don’t tell me that you forgot your identity as a Filipino?”

“Don’t tell me that you have someone buried in the Mortuary.” I said, it would be a big irony indeed.

Luna sighed, “Other than to get information on the Spellmans, I went there to pay my respect to my older sister who disappeared, she was found dead in the forest way back in 1995, we buried her in the Mortuary. If I were to go back to our country, our President would have had me killed for what I did to him.” he then chuckled but then it was replaced by a frown, “My sister was a witch actually, one of those folk healers and shamans, the only reason why I moved to Greendale was because she insisted that we lived in Greendale, I was assigned to the New York Consulate and we could have lived in the Big Apple instead of this place.”

“Why didn’t you ask the Spellmans about your sister?” I asked.

Luna shook his head, “Pride.” he sounded regretful, “But that changes today.”

That was the first time I saw the hot headed General sad, “I’m sorry, General, for your loss.” said Pierce.

“I know that there is something mysterious with Greendale, I lived there on and off, sometimes I was shoved to Washington D.C, and then to California, but most of the time I was in Greendale, serving the New York Consulate.” said Luna.

“Wait, General, I have a question, where are the other Consular officials?” asked Pierce.

“There are no offices today, and everyone you see here is part of the Diplomatic Security Service of the Philippines, or so what I declared them as on the documents.” said Luna, “Anyhow, we should be going to the Spellman Mortuary, well I would.”

“Actually, we’re going there as well.” I said, “The witches need something actually, but I do not know how your men can help.”

Luna smirked, “What is it this time?”

“Someone, the Mayor most likely, stole a deadly potion that can kill of entire towns and populations, we’re planning to break into the Town Hall and take the potion back.”

Luna laughed, “Punyeta! (Damn!) It’s good that you told me, I knew that the mayor was ridiculous, I missed the guy before him.” he then rubbed his hands together, “I think I can help you come up with a plan.”

“Thank you, General.” I said.

I drove the party of three to the Spellman Mortuary on the Camaro where we found Hilda doing some floral arrangements, “Oh, hello there!” she said as we approached her.

Luna simply glanced at her and promptly approached a gravestone, he then knelt in front of the gravestone and I could have sworn that he wept, he then stood up and snapped a salute at the gravestone.

“He had a relative buried here…” said Hilda, surprised.

 

Luna overheard what Hilda said, “I was in California when I heard that my sister was found dead, she was already buried before I could have visited her, but my pride had placed my suspicion on the witches here, I thought maybe that her being a foreign witch meant that she’s not welcomed here.”

Hilda gasped, “She was a witch? I am so sorry.” she said.

“It’s okay, at least I have everything settled, except for who killed my sister.” said Luna.

“We would not kill her, not especially that she’s a witch.” said Hilda.

Zelda came out of the house and approached us, “What the hell is going on, Hilda?”

“Zelda, Luna had a sister apparently and she was a witch!” exclaimed Hilda, pointing at the gravestone.

Even Zelda looked bewildered, “Mister Luna, are you telling me that R. Luna was your sister?”

Luna’s shoulders slackened, “I was in California, I was unable to make it to her burial. She was a witch, and this whole time I thought that the coven here is not welcoming to foreign witches, I mean she’s not exactly like your witchcraft, she’s more of a folk healer and shaman, a Baybaylan - that’s what we called witches there in my country.”

Zelda felt incensed, “Mister Luna, we witches will not kill fellow witches even if they’re from abroad.” but then something hit her, like an old memory surfacing, “Wait, I remembered that R. Luna…we knew that she had the markings of a witch as well as the markings of someone who was killed because she was a witch.”

Luna snapped to attention, “What?”

“Ambrose had the suspicion that she was killed by a witch hunter, even I suspected as such.” said Zelda.

Luna shook his fist and cursed, “Damn it! Can we dig up her body and inspect it?”

“No, you don’t have to, I had Ambrose note down the markings.” said Zelda, “Come follow me.”

We followed Zelda to the house itself where we were seated at the dining area, “I’ll have Ambrose retrieve the pictures.”

As we sat down around the table, we saw an increasingly agitated Luna, it looks as if he was about to lose his nerve, “I thought that my sister was killed by you.” he said to Hilda, “I am sorry.”

Hilda, being the softer one, patted him on the shoulder, “We didn’t, and it’s okay, we understand, we witches tend to be black marked and blamed for every disappearance that happens in Greendale by those who knows of our existence.”

We heard footsteps approaching us and saw Zelda and Ambrose, “Mister Luna, here are the photographs of your sister.” said Ambrose as he placed a box in front of Luna, it was a box of his sister’s personal belongings as well as photographs from Ambrose’s…er…autopsy.

It was kind of obvious that her murder was a ritualistic one, there was a big wooden stake nailed down her heart when they found her and they had it pictured. “Ay putang ina.” cursed Luna as he held a golden necklace that belonged to his sister.

“We also found fragments of silver inside her.” said Ambrose.

Luna was fuming, but it was a silent one, like that of a ticking time bomb before detonation, “Who do you think did this?” he asked sharply.

Ambrose shrugged, “We do not know.”

We then heard a knock on the door, “I got it.” said Hilda, who opened the door to reveal Captain Vimes, Gelyn, and Cunning Man.

Cunning Man recognized Luna and greeted him, he also introduced the other two to Luna, and vice versa. Luna slapped the table hard with a loud thump, he glared in silence at Cunning Man, “Sit down, Cunning Man.”

The Cunning Man was taken aback but he simply sat down beside the General, “Er…yes, General?”

“Do you know who this woman is?” Luna slid the photograph in front of him.

The Cunning Man’s eyes shot at different directions, he then took a deep breath, “Yes…I mean, she’s the foreign witch I had to kill because we just could not have another witch living in Greendale proper, and a foreign one meant a security risk.”

Luna lost it, he stood up, sucker punched the Cunning Man which sent him and his chair onto the floor, he then grabbed the Cunning Man by the collar, “You killed my own sister, you traitor!”

The Cunning Man was stunned, no, he was floored (both literally and figuratively), “But you do not understand, she was a notable threat because she was a foreign witch with different magic that we cannot understand, we had to kill her because she matched those mix of witch and vampires from your country.”

“A Mangkukulam!?” I exclaimed, they’re like witches but their top half separate from their bodies at night in order to do witch stuff which includes eating children and old people, as well as drinking their blood.

I saw Luna feeling horrendously conflicted, he let go of the Cunning Man, “But a Baybaylan and a Mangkukulam is impossible!”

“Well, witches exist here, you’re Consul Pro Tempore, I think that it’s possible.” I remarked.

Luna was still shaking from anger, “You know, Cunning Man, you killing my sister is only payable by blood!” but then he took a deep breath, “But if I kill you here, how can we retrieve the potion?”

The Cunning Man glared at me, he was still on the floor, “You told this guy!?”

Pierce answered for me, “Well, you did speak to him so we thought that maybe he was part of your circle.”

 

“Not the active circle, just the Diplomatic channels…I mean I also told about witches to at least one guy in NATO.” said Cunning Man.

Luna rubbed his face, “Alright, let’s just do our battle planning.” he seemed to have taken command.

I stood up and found an old chalkboard that still had chalk and an eraser on it, I rolled it to the dining room just as everyone was being seated. “Okay,” I began, “I have a plan to break into the Town Hall before Election Night and to take back the potion.”

The Cunning Man interrupted, “Ah, I have a map of the area with me.” he said, he then pulled out a map and flattened it on the table.

I explained my plan, “The operation will begin at night time, just after the Town Hall closes, I need the Greendale Police to surround the Sheriff’s office and arrest them, the commotion should distract the security personnel in the Town Hall. That’s where Gelyn, Pierce, and I would come in, we would be sneaking at the back, Pierce would unlock the back while Gelyn would be hacking into the security cameras…if the place have any.”

Gelyn shook her head much to my relief, “They do not have cameras, they’re still being delivered from what I heard.”

“Okay, good,” I said, “then Gelyn would lead us to the Mayor’s office and from there we would grab the potion and run, we would be escaping in my Mini Cooper and we would be going down this road and straight into the forest.”

“Baliw ka ba, Quezon!” exclaimed Luna (Are you crazy, Quezon!) he then pointed at a building at the end of the road of our intended escape route, “This is the Sheriff’s house, the road parallel to your escape route would be where the Greendale Bank is as well as the homes of the deputies of the Sheriff. It’s like you want them to know that something happened, these people are those types that, if they’re not at work, are awake, and we do not have radio jammers, I mean if the Sheriff’s office can call up their men and identify your car, they might be able to block the roads if they’re that smart.”

“And this road right here would be blocked off by us, I mean unless if we can get the Sheriff and his men to surrender without a fight.” said Vimes.

“How about you go along this route?” suggested Gelyn, she traced a route that led through empty lots and behind non-residential buildings.

“Okay, that’s fine.” said Luna.

I agreed with Gelyn, “I like the route, we’ll go down that way.”

“Good, and then I’ll have the Mayor arrested for conspiring to commit theft.” said Pierce, “I hope we get to find who this mysterious Coroner guy is.”

The Cunning Man rubbed his face, “Wait, I was expecting to force the Mayor to be holed up at his house until the Midterms are over, we do not want to make it look as if we’re influencing the election here.”

“We won’t have a choice,” said Pierce, “he can use that potion to kill his opponent.”

The Cunning Man sighed, “I guess that the die is cast…”

Vimes nodded, “Give us a time, date, and a place, we’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Tonight.” said Pierce.

I nodded, “Tonight.”

The others nodded, Luna on the other hand threw his hands in the air, “It’s not as if we have any other choice.”

“How about on the side of the witches?” asked Pierce.

Zelda replied sternly, “As soon as possible.”

***

 

The night of fire, that’s how I would always call it, happened at exactly nine O’clock, I was sitting inside my Mini Cooper with Gelyn and we were outside Baxter High with our ears at the walkie talkie, waiting for the signal which would come from Pierce who was within the vicinity of the Town Hall.

“You know, Luis, it’s been great being with you as a friend and as your…boss, sort of.” began Gelyn.

I was annoyed but I let it past, after all she had to deal with a lot of heartbreaks already, “Yes, and I’m gladly honored by it, but I don’t think we’re going to die.”

Gelyn took a deep breath, she adjusted her glasses and said “Luis, I know this may sound weird…but I love you.”

The walkie talkie chirped, “Cooper, this is Mulder, the commotion had begun, the Sheriff’s office is being raided as we speak, over.”

I grabbed for the walkie talkie, still stunned by what Gelyn said…I’m just saying, I love her too…but…it really is complicated…and I thought she’s in a relationship?, “Copy, Mulder, we’re heading there now.”

I shoved the car into gear and we reached the town hall within a matter of minutes, where things have gotten dramatic to say the least of it; the men and women of Captain Vimes had the Sheriff and his men kissing the pavement.

I parked the car at the back of the town hall where Pierce was waiting for us, “What took you so long?” said Pierce as we approached him.

I shrugged, “Just some engine problems.” I lied.

“Well, the door is open but I waited for you two as per our plans.” said Pierce, he then drew out his gun and carefully opened the door.

Barely were our feet a few steps away from the doorframe when we heard loud and heavy sounding gunshots coming from above our heads. “Someone’s shooting someone upstairs!” said Pierce.

 

We ran to the upper floors, wondering what the hell was happening when we saw two men locked in a bitter and mortal struggle on the floor, one had apparently been grazed by a bullet over the shoulder, while the other had a black eye.

Gelyn was quick to recognize the two, “Mayor…and I do believe the so called Coroner.”

The two men stopped midway their struggle, the Mayor managed to say, “Would you mind?”

The Coroner shoved the Mayor off of him, “I can’t believe your stupidity has gotten us into this trap, I quit!”

Pierce flashed his badge, “You two are under arrest for theft.” he said as he pointed his gun.

The Coroner’s voice suddenly became deep, “You caught me…not really.” he turned into a dark something - it would be wrong to call it smoke…but it would also be wrong by calling it otherwise, think of it as something of a mist - and disappeared.

The Mayor stood up and raised his hands, “I-…”

“Where is the potion?” asked Gelyn.

The Mayor pointed to the room where they came from, “I-…I..in my safe.”

Gelyn entered the room and tried the safe door, it was unlocked.

“Who the hell was that guy?” I asked.

The Mayor shook his head, “Some guy from the Government….I don’t know which part of it…but it’s like a witch-hunter sort of guys.”

“And you had the guy steal this potion?” said Gelyn as she walked out of the room with a vial in her hand.

The Mayor nodded guiltily, “I did it because it was best for our town, I don’t trust those witches at all, not one bit!”

“You planned to kill them, didn’t you?” said Pierce.

“No, I wanted for the Pentagon and Uncle Sam to do that.” said the Mayor, he shook his head, “I was doing it for my country!”

“Conspiring to commit a crime of theft, and crimes against national security are what you’re facing.” said Pierce, “lay down on the ground, right now!”

The Mayor did as what he was told, he was then handcuffed by Pierce, and was lifted to his feet by Pierce and I, “Wait, why were you two fighting?” I asked.

“Payment…and he wanted me to go to be extracted…and then the commotion outside erupted and we thought our cover was blown.”

“By who?” asked Pierce.

“Who else but those witches!”

Gelyn and I followed Pierce and the arrested Mayor outside through the front doors and saw Luna and his men, as well as those of Captain Vimes, standing outside.

“You got the vial and the scumbag who did this?” asked Luna.

Gelyn showed the vial, “Better bring this to the witches.”

Luna nodded, as if he was tipping an invisible hat, “Luis, you planned most of this out, I’ll give you credit for that.” he then sighed, “I don’t know if we’ll meet again, and as such I’m telling you that I would be going back to the homeland…and try to run Senator.”

I did not know how to react, “Good luck to you then.” was all that I could say.

He snapped a salute, “That was one crazy chapter of our lives but at least now it’s over.”

I returned the salute, “Goodbye to you, General.”

 

Luna and his men then walked towards the distance, like a battle weary unit heading not just back to their camps, but heading home. They were battle weary, the agonizing days of staying in a haunted building within a haunted forest would drive anyone insane.

Vimes whistled loudly, “Alright fellas, it’s time we book them in for corruption and other offenses.”, he and his men then marshaled the arrested Sheriff and his deputies to their police cars.

Pierce smiled, “Well, I guess it’s time we give back what was theirs.”

“Let’s go.” said Gelyn.

“You two go ahead and have fun, I’ll be heading back to my house.” said Pierce as he began walking away, “We’ll see each other whenever.”

We were left alone in the cold night of Greendale, “So…about what you said…” I began.

Gelyn raised a finger, “Luis, I mean what I said and I don’t usually prefer guys…but you are one hell of an exception.”

“But don’t you have a girlfriend?” I asked.

Gelyn sighed, “It’s getting rough between us, she’s getting bullied because of our relationship and I think it would be best for her for the both of us to end it….which I did over the phone.”

I smirked, “I gotta give it to you, I don’t even look good!”…well…large glasses, a bit tall but a bit plump too…think of Hercule Poirot but if he were to be as tall as Sherlock Holmes.

“Does it look like I care?” said Gelyn.

I shrugged and we shared a hug, and then we ended up glancing at one another and sharing a quick kiss.

“Come on, let’s get that vial back.” I said.

We drove back to the Spellman Mortuary with the prize in our hands, the witches were waiting for us outside, “We got it!” I exclaimed loudly as I approached them.

I was expecting for them to be at least smile for we got back what was stolen from them but they were all gloomy looking, “That’s great and all but your friend is dead.” said Ambrose.

“Who?” asked Gelyn.

Zelda jerked her thumb at a freshly dug grave, “That Cunning Man was killed by a new enemy.”

“Who?” asked Gelyn.

“The last thing we heard was a mysterious man arguing with him about joining sides in some incoming war.” said Hilda.

“It’s a war with us, damn it!” said Zelda.

Everything stood still, until Hilda said “Oh come on, young lady, you can give us the vial now.”

“Oh right, sorry.” chuckled Gelyn as she gave the vial to Hilda.

“This does not make things alright, we’re in even more danger than before.” said Zelda.


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabrina disappears during the weekend, somehow breaks up with Harvey, and the Expatriate is stuck with helping out his old man in affairs of state.

It’s really weird being entangled with affairs of states, both of your homeland and the present land which one would be staying at, and it’s even worse with the fact that you’ll be living in an area where sinister magic is real, and things have gotten worse still since then.

 

 

Ever since the arrest of the Mayor , and the eventual political scandal that caused the downfall of the old-timer, Sabrina had been different to say the least of it; she would disappear every weekend and even Harvey’s getting suspicious and frustrated because of it, up to the point that they broke up.

Oh boy, did that heartbroken guy show up at the most difficult and worst of times, the only thing that signaled his unexpected arrival at my house would be a knock that disrupted the flow of chaos.

Everything had went silent, the five staffers of the Embassy stood there with their mouths slack, my father was busily looking through a document, I was too engrossed on the TV, and my mother was the one to say “Who is it?”

“I’m sorry…it’s Harvey, Harvey Kinkle…”

I ran to the door and stuck my head out, indeed the young man was there, still sad about the whole affair, “Oh, hey Harvey, look what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I couldn’t help it, I had to go past Sabrina’s house again.” said Harvey somberly.

I felt sorry for the guy, he broke up with Sabrina and the only thing to come out of his lips was Sabrina. We were interrupted by my father, “Luis, can you put the volume up…oh and you can let Harvey in.”

When Harvey came in through the door, the first thing he said was predictable, “What is going on here?”

Well, a living room full of boxes of photocopies of ballot filled ballot papers and a bunch of senior staff manually counting the vote because of some weird magickry that caused the voting machines be unable to send their data to the server at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C, is an easy thing to explain, right?

I raised the volume of the TV, it was a delayed telecast of the National Canvassing of votes back in the homeland…and let’s just say that the Canvassers, that being Congress, is not happy with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs…aka the boss of my dad.

“Mister Secretary, the board is asking again, where are the missing three hundred thousand overseas votes from the United States?”

The Secretary gave the usual ‘technical issue’ excuse to a visibly agitated and frustrated board of Congressmen and Senators.

Harvey stood there with a blank expression on his face, “Okay…I see that you’re busy with your things…”

“Our voting machines malfunctioned…all of them across the Eastern Seaboard…including the ones in Washington D.C.” explained my father, “It’s the reason why we’re manually counting the votes right now, the rest are at the Consulate.”

Harvey paused and looked as if he was trying to recall a memory from distant past, or maybe from sometime a few months ago but is being blocked by a very sensitive memory…ahem…Sabrina…ahem. “Wait, where’s that loud and tough guy that rescued me?”

“Luna? He’s back in the homeland, he ran for Senator and currently he’s neck and neck for position twelve…he just needs two hundred and fifty thousand votes to secure his spot…which currently we’re counting.” I said. To cut a long story short, only the top twelve candidates with the most votes will get into the Senate.

“Wait…I’m not all into politics…but are you saying that you’re the last bunch not to declare?” he said, uncertain if he’s using the right terms.

“In short, yes.” I said, “And you can blame it on Sabrina’s magic that’s for sure.”

Harvey sighed, “Yeah, just like what happened between the two of us.”

My father smirked, I told to him everything that happened as soon as he came back from his engagements in New York and Washington D.C, at first he was bewildered but then Luna backed me up and told everything that happened; with Harvey, with the Embassy, and even with the Mayor. He’s glad somewhat, as insane as it sounds, that his assignment was not boring.

 

What’s even more crazy is that somehow the Mayor - who was behind bars and charged for conspiring in committing a crime - won, and it was most probably because of the rumors of the witches that began spreading after the nights of hell, not to mention how the mysterious story of Harvey Kinkle made national headlines in the United States as well as in my motherland.

However his victory was an empty one because he was formally charged for multiple counts of a bunch of crimes - including corruption and tax related crime - by a federal court after the election and as such he was disqualified from office, they had to re-do the vote and Mister Havelock Aquinas won by a landslide, he campaigned on something similar to the tone of Mayor Smith but a voice that was tempered and with reason, he acknowledged that there is a threat of witches but noted the fact that maybe they can sort this thing out peacefully and without an angry mob.

“You know, the incident with Harvey here would be the first thing the Senate would be talking about.” said my father.

Harvey shook his head, “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay, it’s not your fault anyway.” said my father with a chuckle.

We heard another knock on the door, it was a familiar voice…but it was filled with anxiety by the sound of it, “Luis, are you at home?”

I was filled with anxiety, I recognized the voice to be that of Gelyn’s, what is she to be anxious about? I opened the door, there was Gelyn right in front of me and her ex-girlfriend standing by the side of the road - she was short, had round glasses, a long wavy hair that she dyed blonde at the ends, and always sported a layer of thick red lipstick. “Luis?” said Gelyn, nearly tearing up.

It came to me like a train, I can already guess what this will be…but I like drama anyways so I allowed for her to explain whatever she had to explain, “Yes, Gelyn, are you alright?”

Gelyn shook her head, “I”m not alright and I’m so, so sorry…”

I glanced at her ex-girlfriend who I am beginning to think was no longer her ex. I took a deep sigh and said “Go on.”

“Drea and I are coming back…I know we’ve been together for like six months but…”

On the one hand I wanted to throw a fit, but then on the other hand they deserved some sort of happy ending, a love that is not to be run over by the opinions and hatred of others, even if those ‘others’ included me.

“I see.” I nodded thoughtfully.

“I’m sorry for leading you…and I’m so goddamned guilty for using you.” said Gelyn, “Look…if you want me to avoid you…in order for me to no longer harm you…I understand.”

I wanted to just do a heel turn away from her and shut the door, but instead I shook my head, “No, we can be best friends still.”

“My only best friend.” interjected Gelyn.

I smiled, “Come on, there needs to be a celebration, let’s go out for lunch.” I said.

Drea and Gelyn looked surprised, “I’m sorry…didn’t you hear what she said?” said Drea in her shy tone of voice.

“Oh I did…and while you may be expecting me to throw a fit - which I would want to do right now but I am resisting it and doing so well - I think it’s best that you two to be together, let’s just say that love prevails over the hatred of others…even if those others were to include me.”

“It’s okay…” said Gelyn, “I just wanted to tell you what happened and that we’re off and that I am so sorry.”

I smiled and gestured with my hand, “Oh just be quiet, this is a good thing as it is a bad thing for me…emotionally…but if it means that you’re happy, then I’m happy.” Yes, I can’t believe that I went into my usual diplomatic mode, of course I was enraged but reason over emotion.

“Are you sure?” asked Gelyn, genuinely concerned for me…or that’s what it sounded like.

“Yes.” I said, “Now, if you would excuse me, I need to cr-…get prepared,just wait for me out here.”

I did a heel turn and closed the door in a way that was enough to fulfill my need to slam the door on their faces while not making it too obvious. I went over to Harvey and said “Permission to join the losers’ circle?”

“What happened?” asked Harvey.

“Gelyn broke up with me…she went back with her ex-girlfriend.” I said.

Harvey sighed, “Come in, the water’s fine.”

I shook my head, coincidentally my mother approached us with two glasses of lemonade, “Come on, boys, I think you two have gotten through too much, here’s something to freshen up.”

“How did you know that I’m going through something?” asked Harvey.

“Mother’s instinct.” said my mother with a smirk, “Come on, drink up.”

I remained silent, the anthem of my own country rose from the television as the network ceased their transmission - both locally in my country and internationally. Two lemonade scented tears trickled down my cheeks, I always imagined myself as simply serving/living for my own family - wife, children and all - or for my country, I cannot serve two masters but it seems that I only have one now.

If I’m this unlucky with relationships then I think I’d rather be alone, living and dying for God and country, as foolish as it may be it sure beats the love of greed, hatred, and other nasty things. My country right or wrong, if right then right…if wrong, to be set right.

“Para mamatay ng dahil sa iyo…” (To die for thee (my country)) I said through sniffs and tears as I raised the glass to the flag on the screen.

***

Appendix A:

Office of the President                                25th February 2050

Malacanang Palace

Circular No. 023

 

I hereby authenticate my journals as part of the global investigation into the unusual events surrounding Greendale and other areas associated with magic, and as such I waive all rights and matters of privacy with regards to my journals during my stay in Greendale as long as public safety requires it.

This matter of magic and witchcraft is sensitive, and I do note the interest into these incidents by the international community, most notably the Vatican and the Holy See as well as the concern here locally due to the fact that we are a spiritual and religious people.

I hope that the publication of what I witnessed would help clear things up, though it may cause more concern than calm, at the very least it is the truth, most importantly on this day in which we commemorate the day we won our freedom.

 

Signed,

President Luis Quezon.

Republic of the Philippines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Postal elections, as far as I am aware of, happens before the election and runs until the polls close in the homeland, and given that they use modern and digitalized elections, well let's just say that modern solutions suffer modern problems and as such because of the weirdness of Greendale, the special machine that would transmit the results of the postal elections to the one at the Embassy at Washington D.C. failed, which is why it is of little wonder that Luis' father and his staff are at the end of their wits manually counting the votes.
> 
> 2\. If you get the reference at the last few paragraphs before the mini-appendix, then you deserve a medal or something as far as literature choices are concerned.
> 
> Necessary update: Apparently life is stranger than fiction...the actual Overseas Absentee Voters ballots from the United States were expected to be delayed. I'm pretty sure that no witches were involved...right? :P


End file.
